Washington  - US economic activity has slowed across all regions of the country since mid-October, the Federal Reserve warned Wednesday, deepening an already-existing recession in the world's largest economy.

All 12 regional Federal Reserve banks reported "weakened" activity in the central bank's latest Beige Book, a regular report on the economy that was last published October 15.

Sharp drops in retail and car sales as well as weak home sales have spurred the declines. Reports across the services industry "were generally negative," the Fed said.

The availability of loans "contracted" in residential, commercial and industrial sectors, the result of a massive ongoing financial crisis.

The National Bureau of Economic Research, a group of economists considered the official arbiters of US business cycles, earlier this week declared the US has been in a recession since December 2007.

While the Fed's last Beige Book still rated the country's mining and energy sectors positively, even these areas have seen productivity fall since October amid a collapse of commodity prices. (dpa)