{"id":8880,"date":"2009-06-10T19:46:00","date_gmt":"2009-06-11T02:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=8880"},"modified":"2009-06-10T21:52:07","modified_gmt":"2009-06-11T04:52:07","slug":"green-or-beige","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/8880\/green-or-beige\/","title":{"rendered":"Green or Beige?"},"content":{"rendered":"

This afternoon, the Federal Reserve released their Beige Book<\/a>.  What’s a Beige Book?  It’s their report based on observations and comments from people inside the business world on the state of the economy.    I’m going to walk through some “highlights” and “lowlights” of what’s happening.   My comments are in bold and italics……<\/p>\n

“Reports from the twelve Federal Reserve District Banks indicate that economic conditions remained weak or deteriorated further during the period from mid-April through May.”<\/p>\n

No surprise there, at least not for me.  So, if conditions remain weak or deteriorated, then where are the gree shoots of recovery that people are talking about?<\/p>\n

“<\/b><\/i>However, five of the Districts noted that the downward trend is showing signs of moderating.” <\/p>\n

So, let’s think about that.   5 out of 12, that’s 41% show that the pace of downward trend is slowing down.  Is that a good thing?   Well, let’s look at a couple of other numbers.   According to this, 100% of the districts show that they are slowing down.  59% of them are slowing down at the same or faster paces than they were previously.<\/p>\n

“<\/strong><\/i><\/b>Manufacturing declined or remained weak in most Districts.”   <\/p>\n

Given the shutdowns in the auto industry and the related industries, this certainly isn’t a surprise.    What’s going to be interesting is what that shows as Chrysler (and hopefully GM) get back to work after their “furloughs.”<\/p>\n

<\/b><\/i>“Nonfinancial Services<\/strong> <\/b>– Districts reporting on nonfinancial services indicated that for the most part activity continued to decline………In contrast, San Francisco reported a substantial pickup in real estate services such as title insurance due to an increase in home refinancing. <\/p>\n

Ooohhh, that illustrates the trouble that we’re in.  One of the biggest “improvements” in the non-financial services is the title insurance industry because of mortgage refinancing.   Guess what’s not going to last very long due to rising rates…..
<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

Consumer Spending and Tourism<\/strong>
Consumer spending remained soft as households focused on purchasing less expensive necessities……   Several Districts reported that discounters have seen their sales increase, while purchases of luxury goods continued to weaken. Respondents from Boston, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Atlanta, St. Louis, Kansas City, and Dallas expect soft consumer sales to Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This afternoon, the Federal Reserve released their Beige Book.  What’s a Beige Book?  It’s their report based on observations and comments from people inside the business world on the state of the economy.    I’m going to walk through some “highlights” and “lowlights” of what’s happening.   My comments are in bold and italics…… “Reports from the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,29],"tags":[375],"class_list":{"0":"post-8880","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-dirty-laundry","7":"category-group-therapy","8":"tag-fed-beige-book","10":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6152,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/6152\/the-fed-translated-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":8880,"position":0},"title":"The Fed Translated…..","author":"Tom Vanderwell","date":"December 16, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Release Date: December 16, 2008 The Federal Open Market Committee decided today to establish a target range for the federal funds rate of 0 to 1\/4 percent. What\u2019s up with the \u201crange\u201d of rates?\u00a0\u00a0 Well, they\u2019d look pretty foolish if they said they wanted the rate to be at .25%\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Lending"","block_context":{"text":"Lending","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/lending\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8184,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/8184\/the-fed-translated-6\/","url_meta":{"origin":8880,"position":1},"title":"The Fed Translated….","author":"Tom Vanderwell","date":"April 30, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Yep, it's that time again.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The Fed met yesterday and today and came out with their announcement this afternoon at 2:15 pm.\u00a0\u00a0 I promise that this one won't be as long as the last Fed Translated was.As usual, my comments are in bold and italics.....April 29, 2009For Immediate Release:Information received\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Group Therapy"","block_context":{"text":"Group Therapy","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/group-therapy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9504,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/9504\/the-fed-translated-and-why-it-isnt-good-for-interest-rates\/","url_meta":{"origin":8880,"position":2},"title":"The Fed Translated – and why it isn’t good for interest rates…..","author":"Tom Vanderwell","date":"August 13, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"My apologies for taking almost 24 hours after the Fed to get this up.\u00a0\u00a0 As I\u2019ve done in the past, I want to go through what the Fed said yesterday and give some insights into what I think it means for the housing and mortgage markets.\u00a0\u00a0 You can find the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Dirty Laundry"","block_context":{"text":"Dirty Laundry","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/dirty-laundry\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7526,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/7526\/the-fed-translated-5\/","url_meta":{"origin":8880,"position":3},"title":"The Fed Translated…..","author":"Tom Vanderwell","date":"March 18, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Well, it's time to do a little Fed translating again.\u00a0\u00a0 This one was a big one, so settle in and let's translate it.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 As usual, my comments are in bold and italics.Release Date: March 18, 2009 For immediate release Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in January\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Group Therapy"","block_context":{"text":"Group Therapy","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/group-therapy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6769,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/6769\/the-fed-translated-4\/","url_meta":{"origin":8880,"position":4},"title":"The Fed Translated…..","author":"Tom Vanderwell","date":"January 30, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Tom here\u2026.\u00a0 Sorry for the delay, but better late than never\u2026.. (my comments are in bold) The Federal Open Market Committee decided today to keep its target range for the federal funds rate at 0 to 1\/4 percent. Nothing new there and no surprises.\u00a0 Can\u2019t go lower than zero and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6365,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/6365\/a-45-mortgage-in-every-pot\/","url_meta":{"origin":8880,"position":5},"title":"A 4.5% Mortgage In Every Pot","author":"Brian Brady","date":"December 30, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Embrace the New Deal!\u00a0 The Bailout has made its way to Main Street. 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