Recent Updates
- US: Job Openings & Labor Turnover Survey (Aug), IP & Capacity Utilization (Sep)
- US: Business Leaders Survey (Oct), Home Builders (Oct)
- US: Industrial Production Detail (Sep)
- Canada: Intl Transactions in Securities (Aug)
- Italy: CPI, HICP Final (Sep)
- UK: Claims (Sep), Earnings (Aug), Employment (Jul)
- Turkey: Trade & Service Indices (Aug); Iraq: Public Budget (Jul); Nigeria: CPI (Sep), Terms of Trade (Jun); Lebanon:
- more updates...
Economy in Brief
U.S. Home Builder Index Improves, but Remains Below Last Year's High
The Composite Housing Market Index from the NAHB-Wells Fargo inched up during October to 68 from an unrevised 67 in September...
U.S. JOLTS: Job Openings Rate Hits Another Record
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the total job openings rate rose to a record 4.6% in August...
U.S. Gasoline and Crude Oil Prices Ease; Natural Gas Prices Increase
Gasoline prices slipped to an average $2.88 per gallon last week (+15.7% y/y)...
Macroeconomic Assessments by ZEW Experts Continue to Sink
Financial experts responding in the ZEW economic survey found current conditions weaker just about across the board...
U.S. Retail Sales Post Disappointing Increase
Total retail sales improved 0.1% (4.7% y/y) during September...
by Carol Stone March 8, 2007
Initial unemployment insurance claims fell 10,000 to 328,000 in the week ended March 3, basically reversing the prior week's 7,000 increase. The figure was marginally lower than Consensus expectations for a decline to 330,000 claims.
Despite the drop in the latest week, the four-week moving average of initial claims rose to 339,000, the highest since the Katrina-inflated numbers in the autumn of 2005.
In the week of Feb 24, continuing claims fell 98,000 to 2.526 million after a rise of 118,000 the week before, which likely had been storm-related. This pulled the associated rate of insured unemployment back down to its recent 1.9% average from a one-week move to 2.0%.
| Unemployment Insurance (000s) | 03/03/07 | 02/24/07 | 02/17/07 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Initial Claims | 328 | 338 | 331 | 313 | 332 | 343 |
| Continuing Claims | -- | 2,526 | 2,624 | 2,459 | 2,662 | 2,924 |
