Gary Siegel

The New York region's service sector activity "grew moderately," according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's January Business Leaders Survey, released Friday.

The region's manufacturing sector expanded at a slower pace in January, as the general business conditions index dropped to 6.3 from 24.3 in December, this month's Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia Report on Business indicates.

The Empire State Manufacturing Survey showed "business activity expanded for New York manufacturers," the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported Thursday, as the general business conditions index surged to positive 9.95 in January from negative 1.23 in December.

As has been the case for much of the year, economic growth remains "modest" or "moderate," according to the latest Beige Book report released Wednesday.

Labor market conditions improved slightly as the Kansas City Fed Labor Market Conditions Indicators (LMCI) narrowed to negative 0.47 in November from negative 0.50 in November, according to the Bank.

Business inventories rose 0.2% to $1.764 trillion in November, while sales were down 0.2% to $1.346 trillion, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday.

With a dual mandate of price stability and maximum employment, the Federal Reserve has discretion to switch between goals, but Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President and Chief Executive Officer Charles I. Plosser believes the Fed should focus on price stability.

The first interest rate hike is apt to be in "the middle of the year," according to Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Dennis Lockhart, who said he purposely used the vague term because the exact timing of the first increase isn't extremely important

Consumers are less afraid of losing their jobs, and their view of inflation expectations held steady in December, with buyers expecting around 3.0% inflation over the course of one year and three years, according to the Survey of Consumer Expectations, released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on Monday.

The Conference Board's Employment Trends Index (ETI) gained to 128.43 in December from an upwardly revised 127.83 in November, and is up 7.5% from a year ago, the group announced Monday.

There is no timetable, so no one can give a truthful answer to when and how fast interest rates will rise, according to Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Jeffrey Lacker.

Wholesale inventories increased 0.8% in November, the Commerce Department reported Friday.

Echoing comments made earlier this week, in light of the December employment report release, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Charles Evans in a televised interview called for patience on rate hikes, suggesting he would prefer to wait until 2016 to raise rates.

U.S. inflationary pressures were lower in December, as the U.S. future inflation gauge fell to 104.1 from a revised November 104.5 reading, first reported as 104.7, according to data released Friday morning by the Economic Cycle Research Institute.

The Federal Reserve should not raise its target interest rate this year, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Narayana Kocherlakota repeated Thursday night.

The December current activity index in the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia's Manufacturing Business Outlook Survey was revised down to 24.3 from the originally reported 24.5, the Bank said Thursday.

The U.S. services sector expanded at a slower pace in December as the non-manufacturing business activity composite index was 56.2 in the month, compared to 59.3 in November, on a seasonally adjusted basis, the Institute for Supply Management reported Tuesday.

New orders for manufactured goods dropped 0.7% in November, after falling an unrevised 0.7% in October, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday.

New York City business activity grew at a faster pace in December, as the current business conditions index gained to 70.8,its highest level in four years, from 62.4 in November, the Institute for Supply Management-New York's Report on Business index, released Monday, indicated.

Saying she "could imagine" a rate hike in the first half of this year, if the variables fall into place Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Loretta Mester predicted Friday inflation would "gradually" move toward the Fed's 2% target.