Recent Updates
- UK: Public Sector Finance (Q1)
- France: Registered Unemployment & Vacancies (Mar), Monthly Household Survey (Apr)
- Germany: Construction Orders, Employment, & Turnover (Feb), IAB Labor Market Barometer, IFO Business Climate Survey (Apr)
- Saudi Arabia: WPI (Mar); Israel: Person-Nights in Tourist Hotels (Mar)
- Norway: Earnings (2017)
- Austria: Industrial Production, New Orders (Feb)
- 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 June 9, 2005
Initial claims for unemployment insurance fell 21,000 to 330,000 last week and reversed most of the prior period's slightly revised jump. Consensus expectations had been for 335,000 claims.
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) 65% correlation with the level of continuing claims.
The four week moving average of initial claims fell to 331,750 (-4.2% y/y).
Continuing claims for unemployment insurance fell 4,000 following a downwardly revised gain the prior week.
The insured unemployment rate remained stable at 2.0% for the seventh consecutive week.
Equilibrium Models of Personal Bankruptcy: A Survey from the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond can be found here.
| Unemployment Insurance (000s) | 06/04/05 | 05/28/05 | Y/Y | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Initial Claims | 330 | 351 | -4.9% | 343 | 402 | 404 |
| Continuing Claims | -- | 2,588 | -10.3% | 2,926 | 3,531 | 3,570 |
