Information for the Federal Reserve

It is interesting to see how the Federal Reserve accumulates its information to formulate forecasts about where the economy might be trending. It is not all statistics. A bank executive that sits on the regional board asked me to be one of the local business executives to provide responses to specific questions for their quarterly board meetings. As you will see below they are questions about recent developments and also what our plans as a business are for the near future. 

• Recent surveys show a deceleration in the pace of increase in new orders.
  • Have you seen sales / orders slow or moderate?
  • Have you adjusted overall expectations for sales / orders for 2011 in the last month? 
•  The Fed continues to watch inflation indicators very closely.  Core consumer prices have increased, but remain below the FOMC “target” of 2% on an annual basis.
  • Do you plan to increase your average selling price in the near future?
  • Do you plan to increase wages in the near future?