April 26, 2007	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 08, 1428

WASHINGTON, April 25: The US economy is seeing an expansion that is “only modest or moderate” with softness in real estate, manufacturing and auto sales in many regions, the Federal Reserve said in its Beige Book on Wednesday.

The report, to be used by the central bank at its May 9 monetary policy meeting, highlighted several areas of weakness in the US economy in the six weeks since the previous report.

“Most Federal Reserve districts noted only modest or moderate expansions in economic activity since the previous report,” the Beige Book report said.

But the survey noted that data coming from the Fed regional banks in New York and Minneapolis “reported steady and firm growth,” and the Dallas Fed “characterised growth as moderately strong.”—AFP