Fed: Economy Still Weak

From Justin Lahart at the Wall Street Journal:
The Fed's beige book survey released Wednesday shows that economic conditions remained weak and even deteriorated in many regions of the country, with commercial real estate and labor markets continuing to face challenges.
Some of the 12 Fed districts see the recession easing a bit, but they are still not expecting a significant boost in economic activity in 2009. Despite costly federal efforts to restart credit markets, it is still very difficult for consumers to obtain loans, the report shows.