by Daniel Costello

The U.S. Federal Reserve Beige Book survey released Wednesday showed the economy expanded or improved modestly across most of the U.S. between October and November as consumer spending rose and manufacturing improved.

Consumer spending strengthened since the last report, with sales of both general merchandise and autos improving across much of the country. Non-auto sales were reported to have picked up in the New York, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Richmond, Atlanta, Kansas City, and San Francisco Districts; sales were described as steady or mixed in the Boston, Chicago, Minneapolis, and Dallas Districts. St. Louis described retail sales as below expectations and down from a year earlier. Auto sales generally improved since the last report, in some cases rebounding from a brief dip after the "cash-for-clunkers" program ended.

Commercial real estate and the job market remained weak, the report found.

Market conditions were reported to have weakened in virtually all Districts, with rising vacancy rates, downward pressure on rents, and little, if any, new development. Expectations for 2010 were also quite low. Boston characterized the commercial real estate outlook as "bleak," Dallas noted that construction was at "historically low levels," and Kansas City described the sector as "distressed."

Investors appeared to play down the news in afternoon trading.

The Beige Book is a U.S. Federal Reserve report on the economy issued eight times a year and is used to help set policy at regular Federal Open Market Committee meetings. The next meeting will be held in two weeks.