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Lacker Says Regional Economy On an Even Keel
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The Washington regional economy is holding up reasonably well, though consumers are pulling back on large purchases and commercial real estate construction is weakening, a top Federal Reserve official said last week.
Jeffrey M. Lacker is president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, which serves an area stretching from Maryland to South Carolina. He closely monitors the regional economies in that zone to help form his thoughts on how the nation's monetary policy should be set.
Lacker generally likes what he sees in the Washington region. It's holding up "pretty well," he said last week. "There's . . . an underlying flow of government spending that's much less cyclically sensitive, that always limits the cyclicality we experience around here."
However, there are some worrisome signs.
"We see some pullback in commercial construction, particularly in Virginia," he said. And, "Going back to late last year, you see some weakness in big-ticket sales, autos, electronics, furniture."
Lacker notes that some parts of the region are doing better than others, particularly in the housing market. "It's differentiated in different areas," he said. "It's the farther-out areas that are suffering the most."
-- Neil Irwin
