Fed Seeing Some Signs of Economic Improvement

The U.S. economy showed some signs of improvement in January and early February, the Federal Reserve said in a report released Wednesday.

The trucking industry is extremely sensitive to economic fluctuations and will benefit from an upturn, when it comes.

Commonly called the Beige Book, the report is drawn from information in each Federal Reserve district and published eight times each year. This one was compiled by the Boston Fed and contains information collected before Feb. 26.

The report said that manufacturing activity was still weak in most districts, but some areas, including Boston, Philadelphia, New York and Kansas City, were seeing some positive results.

Overall, most areas reported mixed economic news, but Dallas was the only area that reported continued weak activity, the Fed said.

The labor markets are still slack in most areas, the report noted, but the worst of the job cuts “seems to be over.”

Prior to the release of the report, Dallas Fed President Robert McTeer said that all recent evidence showed the U.S. economy is recovering from recession, Reuters reported. In addition, Philadelphia Fed President Anthony Santomero separately said the stage is set for a U.S. economic recovery.

The Fed’s Open Market Committee is scheduled to meet March 19. Bloomberg said none of the 53 analysts polled are predicting any change in interest rates.