The Beige Book

The Federal Reserve published its latest edition of the Beige Book today. I usually like to get a copy of it from the Federal Reserve Website, print it out, and read it on my way home from work. You can take the easy route and read some of the news coverage on Reuters, Bloomberg, or MarketWatch, or you can check out a copy yourself.

The Fed's description of the book is "Commonly known as the Beige Book, this report is published eight times per year. Each Federal Reserve Bank gathers anecdotal information on current economic conditions in its District through reports from Bank and Branch directors and interviews with key business contacts, economists, market experts, and other sources. The Beige Book summarizes this information by District and sector. An overall summary of the twelve district reports is prepared by a designated Federal Reserve Bank on a rotating basis."

I like how it's sort of an informal "ear to the ground" survey of different parts of the country. In particular, I think it's a good way to follow things like employment and housing.

I havent read today's version yet, but I just wanted to point it out as a good information source. As Peter Lynch might say, it's one of my "bedside thrillers."