Economy continues to expand at a moderate pace, Fed’s Beige Book says

The world’s biggest economy continued to grow across most regions during the period between early January through mid-February, the Fed’s Beige Book released on Wednesday showed.

The Fed mentioned growth was moderate in eight of its 12 districts, with auto sales and consumer spending soaring in most districts.

Payrolls continued to be stable or growing across broad range of sectors, but “wage pressures remained moderate and were limited to workers in skilled occupations,” the report revealed.

The survey provides anecdotal information about the economy before the Fed’s upcoming meeting on March 17-18.

The report comes two days before the release of the infamous non-farm payrolls report, which may show U.S. employers added a robust 240,000 jobs last month.

As long as economic data is improving, the Fed may decide to raise its interest rates for the first time since 2006 earlier than expected.

As of 12:08 a.m. GMT, the dollar remained to trade higher versus a basket of major currencies around 95.96.