Nine out of 12 Federal Reserve regional districts reported flat or declining economic activity in August, according to the central bank’s so-called Beige Book report released on Wednesday. That’s up from five districts that reported weak conditions in the last report in mid-July.

Economic activity was flat or declining across most regions in the US in recent weeks, the Federal Reserve said in its Beige Book survey of regional contacts.

The Federal Reserve's Summary of Commentary on Current Economic Conditions by Federal Reserve District — more commonly called the Beige Book — showed that the August report read similarly to other months preceding it, except with a bit more evidence of slowing conditions, which is what you might expect if inflation is slowing.