US economic activity grew modestly since early July, the Federal Reserve's most recent update to its Beige Book, released Wednesday, showed.
"Ten of the twelve Federal Reserve Districts reported growth in the slight to moderate range; two Districts reported no change," the Beige Book summary showed.
Consumer spending rose only slightly, with auto sales damped by lower consumer confidence, higher fuel costs and increasing financing costs.
Manufacturing activity rose in most districts, particularly for defense and data center-related orders, while services firms noted only slight to modest increases.
"The general outlook for the coming months was positive, but sentiment was mixed across sectors, with contacts reporting heightened uncertainty surrounding the effects of higher energy prices, policy, and international conflict," the summary showed.
Employment was up only slightly overall, with three districts seeing modest gains, four seeing slight gains and five noting no change.
There was healthy demand for labor in manufacturing, construction and some services sectors, but the retail and hospitality sectors reported falling labor demand.
Wage growth was modest to moderate in most districts, according to the summary, with significant increases most often tied to demand for skilled workers.
Prices were up moderately in eight of the districts, while two reported only modest increases, one a slight increase and one a robust increase. Eight districts reported no change in the rate of price growth compared with the previous Beige Book period, while the pace slowed in three and increased in one.
"Consumer-facing contacts in a few Districts noted that heightened price sensitivity among customers was putting a limit on their ability to pass through input price increases," the summary said.