Recent Updates
- US: IP & Capacity Utilization, Advance Retail Sales (Nov)
- Albania: Wage Indexes (Q3); Production Index (Q3)
- Canada: National Balance Sheet & Flow of Funds (Q3)
- Romania: Labor Productivity, IP Detail (Oct)
- Ireland: Planning Permissions (Q3)
- Spain: Lending to Credit Institutions (Nov), Debt by Region (Oct), Central Bank Balance Sheet (Nov-Prelim)
- Israel: Residential Construction Inputs Price Index (Nov)
- Iceland: Unemployment (Nov)
- more updates...
Economy in Brief
U.S. Government Budget Deficit Surges Unexpectedly
The U.S. Treasury Department reported that the federal government ran a $204.9 billion budget deficit during November...
U.S. Initial Unemployment Insurance Claims Decline
Initial claims for unemployment insurance fell to 206,000 (-7.6% y/y) during the week ended December 8...
EMU Inflation Falls Back Into Place
The ECB targets inflation of just under 2%...
U.S. CPI Is Unchanged; Core Prices Increase Steadily
The Consumer Price Index held steady during November (2.2% y/y)...
U.S. Mortgage Loan Applications Post Another Strong Increase
The MBA total Mortgage Applications Index rose 1.6% (-13.2% y/y) during the week ended December 7...
by Tom Moeller March 17, 2005
Initial claims for unemployment insurance fell 10,000 to 318,000 last week after a revised 18,000 increase the prior week. Consensus expectations had been for 317,000 claims.
The latest figure covers the survey period for March nonfarm payrolls and claims were up 15,000 (5.0%) from the February period.
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 four week moving average of initial claims rose to 316,500 (-7.5% y/y).
Continuing claims for unemployment insurance fell 48,000 from the prior week and the insured rate of unemployment remained at 2.1%.
Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan's testimony titled Future of the Social Security program and economics of retirement can be found here.
| Unemployment Insurance (000s) | 03/12/05 | 03/05/05 | Y/Y | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Initial Claims | 318 | 328 | -4.5% | 343 | 402 | 404 |
| Continuing Claims | -- | 2,647 | -14.0% | 2,926 | 3,531 | 3,570 |
