Recent Updates
- China: 70-City Property Prices (Nov)
- Serbia: Labor Cost Index (Q3); CPI (NOV)
- Czech Republic: Mortgage Loans (Q3)
- US: IP & Capacity Utilization, Advance Retail Sales (Nov), ECEC (Q3)
- US: Manufacturing and Composite PMI (Nov)
- Albania: Wage Indexes (Q3); Production Index (Q3)
- Canada: National Balance Sheet & Flow of Funds (Q3)
- more updates...
Economy in Brief
U.S. Industrial Production Rebounds
Industrial production jumped a greater-than-expected 0.6% (3.9% year-on-year) during November...
U.S. Business Inventory Accumulation Picks Up
Total business inventories increased 0.6% (5.1% y/y) during October...
U.S. Import Prices Weaken As Petroleum Prices Fall; Export Prices Also Decline
Import prices fell 1.6% (+0.7% y/y) during November following an unrevised 0.5% October rise...
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...
by Tom Moeller November 23, 2005
Initial claims for unemployment insurance rose 30,000 to 335,000 last week and reversed the little revised 23,000 decline the prior week. Consensus expectations had been for a lesser increase to 311,000 claims.
Hurricane related claims totaled 21,000 and brought the total of the three storms during the last twelve weeks to 582,000.
The four-week moving average of initial claims ticked up slightly to 323,250 (-2.5% y/y).
Continuing claims for unemployment insurance rose a sharp 59,000 following three successive weeks of decline.
The insured rate of unemployment held at 2.2% for the ninth consecutive week.
Minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee November 1, 2005 can be found here.
Estimating the "Neutral" Real Interest Rate in Real Time from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco is available here.
| Unemployment Insurance (000s) | 11/19/05 | 11/12/05 | Y/Y | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Initial Claims | 335 | 305 | 3.4% | 343 | 402 | 404 |
| Continuing Claims | -- | 2,824 | 3.1% | 2,926 | 3,531 | 3,570 |
