Recent Updates
- Korea: Consumer Survey Index, Korea Inflation Expectations (Apr)
- US: Housing Starts by State and Region (Mar)
- US: New Res Sales (Mar), S&P Case Shiller Home Price Indexes, FHFA HPI (Feb), Final Building Permits (Mar)
- US: Steel Imports (Mar-Prelim)
- US: Richmond Fed Mfg & Service Sector Surveys (Apr)
- US: Consumer Confidence (Apr)
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- more updates...
Economy in Brief
U.S. New Home Sales and Prices Strengthen
Sales of new single-family homes during March increased 4.0% (8.8% y/y) to 694,000 (SAAR)...
U.S. FHFA House Price Index Continues to Strengthen
The FHFA index of U.S. house prices rose 0.6% during February...
U.S. Energy Prices Rise Further
Retail gasoline prices increased to $2.80 per gallon last week (14.3% y/y)...
Italian Confidence Backtracks But Remains High-Valued As It Is for France and Germany
From Q1 2008 to date, Italian GDP actually has failed to grow and has declined by 5.8%...
U.S. Existing Home Sales & Prices Rise Again
The NAR reported that sales of existing homes increased 1.1% during March (-1.2% y/y) to 5.600 million units (AR)...
by Tom Moeller December 23, 2004
Initial unemployment insurance claims bounced up 17,000 to 333,000 last week following the sharp 45,000 drop the week prior. Consensus expectations had been for 335,000 claims.
The latest figure is for the December survey period of nonfarm payrolls and claims fell a slight 2,000 (-0.6%) from the November survey period.
The four week moving average of initial claims rose to 340,000 (-7.6% y/y).
During the last ten years there has been a (negative) 82% correlation between the level of initial claims and the y/y change in payroll employment.
Continuing claims for unemployment insurance fell another 9,000 and added to the deepened 57,000 decline the prior week.
The insured rate of unemployment remained at 2.2%, where it's been since early October.
| Unemployment Insurance (000s) | 12/18/04 | 12/11/04 | Y/Y | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Initial Claims | 333 | 316 | -8.0% | 402 | 404 | 406 |
| Continuing Claims | -- | 2,721 | -16.9% | 3,531 | 3,570 | 3,018 |
