The Federal Reserve's Summary of Commentary on Current Economic Conditions by Federal Reserve District — more commonly called the Beige Book — has shown that the August report read similarly to other months preceding it. Except this time with a bit more evidence of slowing conditions, which is what you might expect if inflation is slowing.

Overall, in three of the 12 districts, economic activity grew slightly. The July version reported on five regions that reported flat to declining activity — which rose to nine in August. In this report, nine districts expected economic activity to remain stable or improve slightly and three expected slight declines. Employment was largely steady although there were "isolated reports" of lowered levels of work, the central bank said.

Commercial construction and real estate showed mixed activity. The Boston region saw largely flat commercial real estate activity with leasing across sectors that were steady and that "exceeded seasonal expectations," according to the Fed. Rents and vacancy rates also stayed largely the same. The Fed noted that a "growing number of financially distressed office buildings" may eventually face demolition.