{"id":386555,"date":"2010-03-03T15:22:23","date_gmt":"2010-03-03T20:22:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.wsj.com\/economics\/2010\/03\/03\/tidbits-from-beige-book-more-tvs-fewer-ambulances\/"},"modified":"2010-03-03T15:22:23","modified_gmt":"2010-03-03T20:22:23","slug":"tidbits-from-beige-book-more-tvs-fewer-ambulances","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/386555","title":{"rendered":"Tidbits From Beige Book: More TVs, Fewer Ambulances"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <strong>Federal Reserve<\/strong>\u0092s beige book, released today, showed <a href=\"http:\/\/online.wsj.com\/article\/SB10001424052748703862704575099740217465042.html?mod=WSJ_hps_LEFTWhatsNews\" >the economy kept improving<\/a> at the beginning of the year, though the pesky winter storms didn\u0092t help. Here are some of the highlights and oddities from the 12 districts it covers:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<strong>Weather was an important factor<\/strong>, namely the severe winter snowstorms that hurt retailers and construction. But on the upside \u0093business is booming\u0094 at ski resorts in the Richmond District. At any rate, weather was so important that the 50-page report mentioned it 41 times. It referenced storms 25 times.<\/li>\n<li><strong>A sign of local budget strain?<\/strong> \u0093Emergency vehicle manufacturers noted a cut back in production, and added that the outlook had weakened.\u0094 (Dallas District)<\/li>\n<li><strong>It pays to challenge the landlord.<\/strong> The commercial real estate sector was weak and in some cases getting worse. \u0093Several Districts also noted that many tenants were pushing for, and in some cases receiving, concessions on rents.\u0094<\/li>\n<li><strong>Housing market insecurity<\/strong>: \u0093Purchases of entry-level homes continue to do well, and several builders reported that the move-up category is gaining momentum. However, builders expressed concern about the potential effect on home sales once the first-time home buyers\u0092 tax credit expires on April 30. They also reported that banks remain unwilling to lend money for constructing spec houses, and tight credit standards are keeping many potential buyers out of the market.\u0094 (Cleveland District)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Good news for manufacturing workers<\/strong>: \u0093Almost all respondents that had suspended 401(k) plan matches have resumed making matches or expect to do so shortly,\u0094 manufacturing employers reported. (Boston District)<\/li>\n<li><strong>This isn\u0092t a surprise to those who waited in two-hour lines<\/strong> to buy groceries before the storms. \u0093Many consumers avoided driving during dangerous road conditions, causing weakness in retail sales (except for items such as food).\u0094 (Richmond District)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Americans upgraded their TVs<\/strong> for the Super Bowl. \u0093\u0085the store manager at a chain discount retailer in North Carolina reported that sales of larger screen televisions were especially strong just prior to the Super Bowl football game and following the snow storms.\u0094 (Richmond District)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Tourism is improving<\/strong>. \u0093Atlanta also reported rising tourism activity related to several successful major sporting events and a well-attended Mardi Gras in New Orleans. San Francisco noted increases in visitors to Hawaii and Las Vegas and said hotel occupancies stabilized in some other areas.\u0094<\/li>\n<li><strong>Two jobs for the price of one<\/strong>: \u0093\u0085job creation remained tepid. Businesses continued to describe attempts to do more with less, such as combining the duties of several jobs into one.\u0094 (Atlanta District)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Canada to the rescue!<\/strong> \u0093One major mall in western New York State reports some softening in business in February, but another reports that business remained strong through mid-month, helped by particularly strong business from Canadian shoppers\u0097particularly on Presidents\u0092 Day (Family Day, in Ontario) weekend.\u0094 (New York District)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Minnesotans are imbibing<\/strong>. \u0093A Minnesota-based restaurant and bar chain reported that recent same-store sales were above year-earlier levels. A movie theater in Minnesota reported that ticket sales were up during January.\u0094 (Minneapolis District)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Give them free gifts and they will come<\/strong>: An Outer Banks of North Carolina analyst said future bookings are up \u0093and credited the increase to creative packaging such as throwing in free linens, gas cards and gift certificates to local restaurants.\u0094 (Richmond District)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Corn is having a lot of issues<\/strong>. \u0093News that last fall\u0092s corn harvest was a record triggered declines in the price of corn, even though a higher than typical percentage of corn acres remained unharvested. There continued to be problems with the quality of corn in storage, leading to price discounts at delivery.\u0094<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/feedads.g.doubleclick.net\/~at\/YZq3o_vzndw4zWksGDPyYaH-6UM\/0\/da\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feedads.g.doubleclick.net\/~at\/YZq3o_vzndw4zWksGDPyYaH-6UM\/0\/di\" border=\"0\" ismap=\"true\"><\/img><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/feedads.g.doubleclick.net\/~at\/YZq3o_vzndw4zWksGDPyYaH-6UM\/1\/da\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feedads.g.doubleclick.net\/~at\/YZq3o_vzndw4zWksGDPyYaH-6UM\/1\/di\" border=\"0\" ismap=\"true\"><\/img><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"feedflare\">\n<a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/wsj\/economics\/feed?a=U4I2C2Jpn0U:_o61UqqTYvg:yIl2AUoC8zA\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/wsj\/economics\/feed?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/wsj\/economics\/feed?a=U4I2C2Jpn0U:_o61UqqTYvg:F7zBnMyn0Lo\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/wsj\/economics\/feed?i=U4I2C2Jpn0U:_o61UqqTYvg:F7zBnMyn0Lo\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/wsj\/economics\/feed?a=U4I2C2Jpn0U:_o61UqqTYvg:V_sGLiPBpWU\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/wsj\/economics\/feed?i=U4I2C2Jpn0U:_o61UqqTYvg:V_sGLiPBpWU\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/wsj\/economics\/feed?a=U4I2C2Jpn0U:_o61UqqTYvg:qj6IDK7rITs\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/wsj\/economics\/feed?d=qj6IDK7rITs\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a>\n<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~r\/wsj\/economics\/feed\/~4\/U4I2C2Jpn0U\" height=\"1\" width=\"1\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Federal Reserve\u0092s beige book, released today, showed the economy kept improving at the beginning of the year, though the pesky winter storms didn\u0092t help. Here are some of the highlights and oddities from the 12 districts it covers: Weather was an important factor, namely the severe winter snowstorms that hurt retailers and construction. But [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":850,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-386555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/850"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386555"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386555\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}