Cyrillic Partners

The Federal Reserve’s Beige Book, a collection of anecdotal reports from the 12 Fed Bank districts, tells of a cooling economy in advance of the FOMC meeting on December 11.

Seven of the 12 districts reported slower growth, according to MarketWatch’s read of it. Forbes.com talked to John Lonski, the chief economist at Moody’s Investors Services, who said: “It’s consistent the markets view of slower economic growth that provides the Fed with more than enough room to cut interest rates in order to assure an adequate supply of financial capital.”

“Demand for residential real estate remained quite depressed, with only a few tentative and scattered signs of stabilization amidst the ongoing slowdown,” the Beige Book says, and Reuters reports.

The report shouldn’t be much of a surprise. Bernanke said the economy was slowing earlier this month (read our story on what he said).

The data in the Beige Book is current as of November 16. You can download the Book yourself here.

[Image from the Fed]

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