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Economy in Brief
U.S. Housing Affordability Declines Further in June
The NAR Fixed Rate Mortgage Housing Affordability Index fell 3.6% in June...
EMU Output Makes Solid Gain in June
The European Monetary Union posted a 0.7% increase for industrial output in June...
U.S. Producer Prices Fall During July; Core Increase Weakens
The Producer Price Index for Final Demand fell 0.5% during July...
U.S. Unemployment Claims Continue on an Uptrend
Initial claims for unemployment insurance filed in the week ended August 6 rose 14,000 to 262,000...
RICS Survey Points to More U.K. Housing Sector Weakness
The survey of housing market conditions in the U.K. continues to show strength in prices versus weakness...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
by Tom Moeller November 17, 2005
A 25,000 decline last week in initial claims for unemployment insurance to 303,000 followed a little revised 3,000 increase the prior week and dropped claims to the lowest level since mid-April. Consensus expectations had been for a lesser decline 320,000 claims.
The latest figure covers the survey period for November nonfarm payrolls and claims were down 54,000 (15.1%) from the October period.
The Labor Department indicated that roughly 10,000 new claims last week were related to hurricanes Katrina and Rita, bringing the total since Sept. 3 linked to the Gulf Coast storms to an unadjusted 545,000 claims. Hurricane Wilma, which struck Florida late last month, led to roughly 9,000 claims bringing the total to 16,400 related claims since that storm hit.
The four-week moving average of initial claims fell sharply to 321,500 (-4.2% y/y), the lowest level since early September.
Continuing claims for unemployment insurance rose 3,000 following a downwardly revised 5,000 drop during the prior week.
The insured rate of unemployment remained at 2.2% for the eighth week.
Spendthrift Nation from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco can be found here.
Unemployment Insurance (000s) | 11/12/05 | 11/05/05 | Y/Y | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Initial Claims | 303 | 328 | -9.8% | 343 | 402 | 404 |
Continuing Claims | -- | 2,793 | 0.3% | 2,926 | 3,531 | 3,570 |