U.S. companies battle rising prices and labor shortages, Fed survey shows

The U.S. economy expanded at a modest-to-moderate pace in October and the first half of November while firms grappled with rising inflation and a scramble to fill jobs amid labor shortages, a survey conducted by the Federal Reserve showed on Wednesday. The persistence of stubbornly high inflation has already forced the Fed to act to rein it in. On Tuesday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell told the U.S. Senate Banking Committee that the central bank will consider speeding up the end of its bond-buying program a few months earlier than anticipated on the back of a broadening of price pressures, accelerating economic growth, and strong job gains that have not been matched by an increase in labor supply.