Economic Activity Expands on Retail Sales
AP ^ | 7/27/05 | Jennie Aversa
Posted on 07/27/2005 11:33:56 AM PDT by Tumbleweed_Connection
The economy flashed fresh signals of strength in the last two months, with factories buzzing and cash registers ka-chinging despite high gas prices.
The latest snapshot emerging from the Federal Reserve's survey of the business climate around the country, released Wednesday, suggested the economy has bounced back nicely from a springtime soft patch. The job market showed some improvements and inflation was fairly contained, the survey also found.
The picture was consistent with the assessment Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan offered last week when he delivered the central bank's midyear economic outlook to Congress.
At that time, Greenspan signaled that short-term interest rates will continue to move higher in the months ahead in an effort to keep the economy and inflation on an even keel. Economists widely expect Fed policymakers will boost rates by another quarter-percentage point at their next meeting, Aug. 9. The Fed's survey appears to support such a move.