US Economy Still Recovering Slowly - Fed's Beige Book

The U.S. economy's recovery continued at the end of 2009, spreading to more parts of the country, but remains too weak to bring down unemployment, the Federal Reserve said in a report Wednesday.

In its latest beige book, the Fed said economic activity was improving slightly as 2010 started, but remained at a "low level" especially due to weakness in labor and commercial real estate markets.

The U.S. central bank said 10 districts reported some increased activity or improvement in economic conditions, while the remaining two--Philadelphia and Richmond--reported mixed conditions. In the previous survey published Dec. 2, the Fed said eight districts had shown improvements.