Fed's Beige Book Another Sign That Rates Are About To Rise

(RTTNews) - The Federal Reserve is getting more optimistic that the U.S. economy is on the right track after a second straight rough winter.

With the jobs market improving, each of the Fed's 12 districts reporting activity expanded from mid-May through June, according to the most recent Beige Book.

Respondents told the Fed that consumer spending is picking up, the housing market is steady, and lending activity is on the rise.

The decline in oil prices continued to hurt petro-dependent areas of the country like Texas and North Dakota, but overall this month's Beige Book will be seen as a indication that rates should begin to normalize.

The Beige Book is expected to give the Fed another reason to raise interest rates, perhaps as early as September.

Fed Chair Janet Yellen said as much today when she gave a relatively upbeat assessment of the U.S economy to Congress. She said the Fed was going to raise rates this year if the recovery proceeds.