MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (WZMQ) – Since 2022, The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis has held a monthly Business Pulse Survey. This gathers cost inputs from businesses across its district, spanning to six regions of the midwest, including the Upper Peninsula.
On Friday, they held a mid-year update. Director of Regional Outreach Joe Mahon spoke on 2026 findings around the district, and says compared to a lot of uncertanty by the end of 2025, inputs of economic impact have stayed mostly level in the past six months.
“We’ve been talking about oil price shocks, we’ve been talking about AI, those are pushing in a lot of directions, but overall… based on the information we have available to us, the economy continues to grow and businesses continue to hire,” he said.
Next to the Business Pulse Survey, the Federal Reserve also shared the Consumer Price Index and Personal Consumption Expeditres for the month of June. Results from the latter showed the lowest rate this year so far.
“Those came in soft this week, but they have been up over the past few months and that’s attributable to what’s happening globally,” said Mahon.
In terms of shifts in price, often centered around tariff uncertainty, input costs are a main focus. Mahon says while the monthly survey allows the Federal Reserve to keep up-to-date on regional indicators, answers vary from business to business.
“About a third of the businesses told us things have been what they expected, a bit more than a third said it was worse than expected, and almost a third said they were better than expected,” he said. “So it’s easy to look at averages, but there’s a lot going on underneath.”
For more information, and to participate in an upcoming survey, visit here.
