Recent Updates
- Vietnam: Industrial Production (May)
- Indonesia: Foreign Reserves (Apr)
- Vietnam: Retail Sales, CPI, International Trade (May)
- Philippines: Producer Price Index (Apr)
- Japan: Labor Force Survey (Apr), Tokyo CPI (May), IP (Apr-Prelim)
- more updates...
Economy in Brief
U.S. Pending Home Sales Plunge to Record Low
Pending home sales fell 21.8% in April...
U.S. GDP Decline in Q1'20 is Deepened; Corporate Profits Plunge
Revised GDP figures continue to show sharp falloff in activity...
Kansas City Fed Factory Remains Negative, but Deterioration Moderates
Midwest economic activity continues to decline...
State & Pandemic Assistance Initial Claims Total 46.7 Million in Last Ten Weeks
Initial jobless claims decreased to a still extremely-elevated 2.123 million in the week ending May 23...
Italian Confidence Erodes
Italy's consumer and business indexes plunge in May...
by Tom Moeller March 3, 2005
Initial claims for unemployment insurance slipped 1,000 to 310,000 last week and the prior week's moderate rise was lessened. Consensus expectations had been for 315,000 claims.
The four week moving average of initial claims fell to 307,0000 (-13.6% y/y).
Continuing claims for unemployment insurance rose 12,000 and the prior week's decline was lessened to 52,000.
During the last ten years there has been a (negative) 75% correlation between the level of initial claims for unemployment insurance and the monthly change in payroll employment. There has been a (negative) 66% correlation with the level of continuing claims.
The insured rate of unemployment remained at 2.1%.
| Unemployment Insurance (000s) | 02/26/05 | 02/19/05 | Y/Y | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Initial Claims | 310 | 311 | -9.4% | 343 | 402 | 404 |
| Continuing Claims | -- | 2,650 | -15.8% | 2,926 | 3,531 | 3,570 |
