The Federal Reserve released its February 202 Beige Book on Wednesday. The good news is … things haven't gotten horrible. Which may not seem a big comfort, but the way things have been seemed to head — with Fed Chair Jerome Powell's congressional testimony making more rate hikes seem likely — catch whatever upside there might be.

"The latest Beige Book suggests that the economy regained some momentum in the first quarter, driven by solid-to-strong growth in retail sales and a stabilization in manufacturing activity," wrote Oxford Economics in an emailed note. "At the same time, however, it hints at a continued moderation in both wage pressures and consumer price inflation, so the implications for monetary policy are minimal."

For CRE, the national outlook put it into one sentence: "Commercial real estate activity was steady, with some growth in the industrial market but ongoing weakness in the office market."

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