MNI BRIEF: US Economy Grew Modestly At End Of '21-Beige Book

Supply chain bottlenecks and labor shortages kept a lid on U.S. economic growth as last year drew to a close, the Federal Reserve's latest Beige Book survey said Wednesday.

"Growth continued to be constrained by ongoing supply chain disruptions and labor shortages," the report said. "Despite the modest pace of growth, demand for materials and inputs, and demand for workers, remained elevated among businesses."

The Fed signaled at its December meeting that it was likely to raise interest rates three times this year, and officials are now actively debating balance sheet runoffs.

On inflation, the report said "contacts from most Federal Reserve Districts reported solid growth in prices charged to customers, but some also noted that price increases had decelerated a bit from the robust pace experienced in recent months."