Sales at department stores have remained firm and consumption of services such as outlays for travel and sales in the food service industry have held steady.
Sitting around a 2/3  BIS central bankers' speeches  table together provided an opportunity for me to hear community bankers reflect on what has worked well for their communities and what they see as challenges, and to provide thoughtful suggestions on what they think might work best going forward. It was also helpful to be exposed to some differences of views.