U.S. economy continues to expand in all regions: Fed survey

The U.S. economic activities continued to expand in October and November, indicating the recovery was on a solid pace, a survey by the Federal Reserve showed Wednesday.

In the Fed's latest Beige Book which gauges its 12 districts' economy from early October to end November, all the districts showed continuous expansion in economic activity, and a number of districts were optimistic about the outlook for future economic activity.

In Fed's previous survey, covering the period from end August to early October, these districts only showed modest to moderate expansion.

Consumer spending, a spot light of the economy, continued to trend higher in most districts in October and November, and some contacts of the districts viewed lower gasoline prices as a contributing factor to higher consumer spending, said the Beige Book.

Employment gains were widespread across districts; manufacturing activity generally advanced during the reporting period; construction and real estate activity expanded overall, with only a fair amount of variation across sectors and regions; and overall price and wage inflation remained subdued, but a number of districts reported slight to moderate increases in labor costs during the reporting period.

The U.S. economy grew 3.9 percent in the third quarter this year, thanks to strong personal spending which accounts for about 70 percent of overall U.S. economic activity.

The Fed releases the Beige Book eight times a year to provide a snapshot of the local economy and updates it two weeks before each of its monetary policy meeting. The Fed's policymakers will meet on Dec. 16-17.