The Federal Reserve Beige Book (not to be confused with Mao's little red book, or that book with 50 (count em!) shades of grey) is to be published next week.

  • Its out 8 times a year, in advance of FOMC meetings (yes, we've got one of those coming up - April 28 and 29, since you asked)
  • The Beige Book is officially known by the far more racy title of Summary of Commentary on Current Economic Conditions
  • It's a collection of "anecdotal information on current economic conditions" by each Federal Reserve Bank district from "Bank and Branch directors and interviews with key business contacts, economists, market experts, and others".

Is there a movie version? How old do you have to be to get into the cinema?

But, I digress.

With the Federal Reserve now 'data dependent' and the recent sagging in economic indicators 'cause baby its cold outside, we'll be looking at it closely to weigh up how transitory the dip may have been. The Fed is now very much focused on the strength, or otherwise, of the labor market, and how reasonably confident it can be in the inflation outlook.

The Beige book is out on Wednesday (15 April 2015) at 1800GMT.

Also next week we get another conga line of Fed speakers :

Tuesday, April 14
Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Kocherlakota speaks before a public town hall forum hosted by Winona State University. This is at 0000GMT

  • The speech text will be published
  • Audience Q&A expected
  • No media Q&A

Wednesday, April 15
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President Bullard speaks on the U.S. economy and monetary policy ; 1300 GMT

  • Audience and media Q&As expected

Federal Reserve Vice Chair Fischer moderates "Session 2: Macro-Prudential Tools: Gathering Evidence" panel before a seminar during the IMF/World Bank, begins at 1440 GMT

  • Audience Q&A expected

Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Lacker speaks on "Investing in People for Long-Term Prosperity" at 2330 GMT

  • Text and then audience and media Q&As expected

Thursday, April 16
Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Lockhart speaks on the economic outlook and monetary policy at 1700 GMT

  • Audience and media Q&As expected

Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Mester speaks on the economic outlook and monetary policy before the Forecasters Club of New York Monthly Meeting at 1710 GMT

  • Audience and media Q&As expected

Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President Rosengren participates in "The U.S. Economic Outlook and Implications for Monetary Policy" event hosted by Chatham House in London. at 1730GMT

  • Note ... Embargoed text and slides likely

Federal Reserve Vice Chair Stanley Fischer participates in panel, "The Elusive Pursuit of Inflation" before the IMF/World Bank meetings from 1900 GMT

  • Audience Q&A expected