The Federal Reserve said the US economy continued to expand “gradually” in July and early August as improving housing and retail sales helped outweigh weakness in manufacturing.

Most regional reserve banks reported employment was “holding steady or growing only slightly”, the Federal Reserve said yesterday in its Beige Book business survey, based on reports from its 12 districts. The report reflects information collected on or before August 20th and summarised by its Boston arm.

“Retail activity, including auto sales, had increased since the last Beige Book report,” in most districts, it said. “Many districts reported some softening in manufacturing, either a slowdown in the rate of growth or a decline in the level of sales.”

The Beige Book gives policymakers anecdotal evidence on the economy before they meet in Washington on September 12th and 13th.

Policymakers said at their July gathering that further action would probably be needed “fairly soon” without evidence of “substantial and sustainable” improvement in the recovery.

– (Bloomberg).