Beige Book: Economy Still Showing Modest Improvement

(RTTNews) - The United States economy continued to expand at a modest to moderate pace, the Federal Reserve's Beige Book showed Wednesday.

Based on information collected on or before November 22, the economy was relatively healthy across all of the Fed's twelve districts.

Manufacturing activity picked up in most districts, particularly in the automotive sector. Sales of new motor vehicles continued at a moderate to strong pace.

Reports on retail spending were positive ahead of the all-important holiday shopping season.

In a sign of resiliency in the housing market, residential real estate activity improved across in most regions.

Today's Beige Book will do little to change expectations that the Fed will maintain the scale of its $85 billion per month asset purchase plan, better known as QE3.