- Most Districts indicated economic growth was modest during July and August
- Consumer spending on tourism was stronger than expected but other retail spending continued to slow, especially non-essential
- Some Districts highlighted reports suggesting consumers may have exhausted their savings and are relying more on borrowing to support spending
- New auto sales did expand in many Districts, but contacts noted this had more to do with better availability of inventory rather than increased consumer demand.
- Manufacturing contacts in several Districts also noted that supply chain delays improved
- New orders were stable or declined in most Districts, and backlogs shortened
- Nearly all Districts reported the inventory of homes for sale remained constrained
- Some Districts reported higher delinquencies on consumer credit lines
- Job growth was subdued across the nation
- Nearly all Districts indicated businesses renewed their previously unfulfilled expectations that wage growth will slow broadly in the near term.
- Most Districts reported price growth slowed overall, decelerating faster in manufacturing and consumer-goods sectors.
- Full report
This is about what you would expect from this report, though I found the jobs commentary and wage commentary to be more dour than I expected. It sums up what we already know: the jobs market is softening, retail is soft, manufacturing is slow but steady and there is still some pent up savings.
