WASHINGTON, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- U.S. economic activity rose slightly in most districts, with three regions experiencing modest to moderate growth that helped offset flat or slightly declining activity in two others, the U.S. Federal Reserve said in its Beige Book released on Wednesday.
The Beige Book, a survey on economic conditions based on information collected from its 12 regional reserve banks, is published eight times per year.
Though growth in economic activity was generally small, expectations for growth rose moderately across most geographies and sectors, according to the Beige Book. The outlook for the economy in most regions appears cautiously optimistic, with businesses expecting a pickup in demand in the coming months.
The survey also highlighted that price increases were generally modest across the Federal Reserve Districts.
"Both consumer-oriented and business-oriented contacts reported greater difficulty passing costs on to customers. Input prices were said to be rising faster than selling prices for most businesses, resulting in declining profit margins," it said.
The Beige Book also noted that contacts indicated they expect the current pace of price growth to persist, but businesses in several districts indicated tariffs pose a "significant upside risk" to inflation.
In a speech in Washington, D.C. earlier this week, Christopher Waller, a Fed governor and a member of the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), said that recent data have raised the possibility that progress on inflation "may be stalling at a level meaningfully above 2 percent," while noting that "this is a risk but not a certainty."
Despite warning of "stalling" progress, Waller said that based on the economic data in hand and forecasts that show that inflation will continue on its downward path to 2 percent over the medium term, he currently leans toward supporting a cut to the policy rate at the December meeting.
The Fed will hold its final monetary policy meeting of the year on Dec. 17-18.
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Group's FedWatch Tool, which acts as a barometer for the market's expectation of the Fed funds target rate, shows that as of Wednesday afternoon, the market expects a 77.5 percent probability that the Fed will cut interest rates by 25 basis points at the next meeting.
