Beige Book: Tariff Panic, Widespread Labor Shortages And "Robots"

Below, courtesy of Bloomberg, are selected anecdotes from the latest Beige Book:

• Boston: Three manufacturing firms faced higher input prices due to tariffs on Chinese goods and services that were not readily substitutable, and the firms expected to pass on (or had already passed on) to consumers at least some of the tariff burdens
• New York: Broadway theaters reported continued growth in both attendance and revenues, both of which were running well ahead of comparable 2017 levels
• Philadelphia: Several key industrial suppliers believe their clients placed excessive orders to boost inventories in advance of tariffs and now expect that demand will be lower over the next six months to a year
• Cleveland: Auto retailers noted that new vehicle sales have declined slightly because of rising interest rates and increased unit prices
• Richmond: Farmers in North Carolina lost crops and livestock to flooding from Hurricane Florence
• Atlanta: Contacts remained concerned about tariffs and trade conflicts although there was some optimism concerning the newly agreed upon United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement
• Chicago: Residential and commercial construction contacts said that a lack of workers was slowing the completion of projects: One contact reported a delay of 6 weeks because they couldn’t find an elevator installer.
• St. Louis: One contact reported the launch of programs that teach foreign-born workers English to prepare them for jobs in the medical field and in manufacturing
• Minneapolis: A producer of dry beans reported that a large regular annual order from European Union countries was cancelled due to tariffs
• Kansas City: A majority of respondents reported higher commercial vacancy rates for the first time since the end of 2016
• Dallas: Most staffing firms reported surging demand for their services over the reporting period, noting strength in all markets, both geographically and by industry
• San Francisco: Contacts in Northern California reported that sales of semiconductors were brisk, driven in part by strong global demand.