---
title: The Federal Reserve Issues Its Beige Book Amid Few Surprises
description: market commentary, improving employment and wages, labor market remained tight, weak housing starts march, Internationl Business Machines, federal reserve
image: https://investor.valueline.com/hubfs/VL%20Blog%20Images/Financial_3140396_200x140.jpg
---

[![The Value Line Blog](https://investor.valueline.com/hubfs/VL%20Blog%20Images/vl_blog_header.png)](https://investor.valueline.com/blog)

[Market Commentary](https://investor.valueline.com/blog/topic/market-commentary)

# The Federal Reserve Issues Its Beige Book Amid Few Surprises

 April 19, 2017

An already selectively weaker stock market, under pressure from [disappointing earnings from **International Business Machines**](https://investor.valueline.com/blog/dow30-international-business-machines-first-quarter-fiscal-2017) ([IBM](https://research.valueline.com/research#sec=company&sym=IBM)– [Free IBM Stock Report](https://research.valueline.com/api/report?documentID=2185-VL_20170331_VLIS_IBM_1533_01-1NTQC78CTD8O5VTN0S23I2N48F&symbol=IBM)) and a sudden four percent plunge in oil prices, was at least treated to a generally benign [Federal Reserve Beige Book economic summation](https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/beigebook201704.htm). On point, the Fed noted that each of its 12 Federal Reserve Districts had experienced economic growth between mid-February and the end of March and that the pace of this improvement could be termed modest to moderate. In addition, the pickup was evident across the various economic regions of the country and the respective business sectors.

Specifically, manufacturing continued to expand at a modest to moderate gait and consumer spending showed selective strength. In this latter category, sales of light vehicles were strong, but revenues from non-auto sales weakened. At the same time, tourism and travel picked up, as did residential construction.

Interestingly, housing starts, in a report issued yesterday, noted some weakness in March, but building permits, a more forward-looking metric, indicated improvement. Finally, loan volume was up in the past two months, while energy-related business indicated some improvement.

Also improving were employment and wages, as the labor market remained tight. Prices, too, gained some traction. Given this cross section, it would seem that the central bank would continue raising interest rates in the months to come, with the next probable hike in rates most likely coming in June. None of this should rattle investors, who apparently are more focused on corporate profits, oil prices, and international events, with the back and forth involving North Korea seemingly of most interest at this point in time. So, stocks drifted lower after the Beige Book's release, especially, the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

*At the time of this article's writing, the author did not have positions in any of the companies mentioned.*

[![Register now for our free One Stock to Buy webinar](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/2532383/5a80130b-f0ce-4bd8-acbd-f077f2232ec5.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/2532383/5a80130b-f0ce-4bd8-acbd-f077f2232ec5)

### Popular Posts

Search

Search Blog

### Topics

- [Investing 101 (2)](https://investor.valueline.com/blog/topic/investing-101)
- [Market Commentary (37)](https://investor.valueline.com/blog/topic/market-commentary)
- [Stock Highlights (390)](https://investor.valueline.com/blog/topic/stock-highlights)
- [Stock Market Today (2071)](https://investor.valueline.com/blog/topic/stock-market-today)

 Copyright 2026 Value Line, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factual material is obtained from sources believed to be reliable and is provided without warranties of any kind. VALUE LINE IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY ERRORS OR OMISSIONS HEREIN OR ANY DAMAGES OR LOSSES ARISING FROM ANY USE OF THE INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN. This blog is strictly for subscriber's own, non-commercial, internal use. No part of it may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any printed, electronic or other form, or used for generating or marketing any printed or electronic publication, service or product. Officers, directors, or employees of Value Line, Inc. and its affiliates and subsidiaries, and EULAV Asset Management, may own stocks that are featured in this email. Nothing herein should be construed as an offer to buy or sell securities or to give individual investment advice. Value Line, the Value Line logo, The Most Trusted Name in Investment Research, “Smart research. Smarter investing.”, The Value Line Investment Survey, Timeliness, and Safety are trademarks or registered trademarks of Value Line, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries.