ECONOMIC REBOUND WEAK, FED SAYS

October 27, 2001

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The U.S. economy has only partially recovered from the short, sharp impact of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, with economic activity remaining weak through the first weeks of this month, according to the Federal Reserve Board’s latest nationwide survey released yesterday, The Washington Post reported.

But some of the weakness, such as in retail sales and manufacturing, “might have already been in train” before the attacks, so the “longer-run effects [of the attacks] are more difficult to assess,” the summary said.

Except for autos, which have rebounded as a result of the industry’s zero-percent financing of purchases, retail sales have softened in most of the country, and retailers’ have lowered their forecasts for Christmas sales, the survey found.

Construction has also slowed, and “both shipments and orders for a broad spectrum of manufactured goods, ranging from steel to semiconductors, are weak in most of the country,” the report said.