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Economy in Brief
German PPI Accelerates
The German year-on-year PPI has generally been decelerating since early 2017...
U.S. Leading Economic Indicators Signal Continued Expansion
The Conference Board's Composite Index of Leading Economic Indicators increased 0.3% during March...
Philadelphia Fed Factory Conditions Improve; Prices Jump
The Philadelphia Fed reported that its General Factory Sector Business Conditions Index rose to 23.2 during April...
U.S. Initial Claims for Unemployment Insurance Are Little Changed
Initial unemployment insurance claims slipped to 232,000 (-6.1% y/y) during the week ended April 14...
U.K. Retail Sales Fall
U.K. GDP is expected to cool its jets when the first quarter GDP number is released...
by Tom Moeller April 28, 2016
Initial claims for unemployment insurance increased to 257,000 during the week ended April 23 after falling to 248,000 in the prior week, revised from 247,000. Expectations were for 255,000 applications in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. The four-week moving average of claims declined to 256,000, its lowest level of the economic recovery.
In the week ending April 16, continuing claims for unemployment insurance eased to 2.130 million (-5.5% y/y) from 2.135 million. The four-week moving average fell to 2.158 million, a new low for the economic expansion.
The insured rate of unemployment remained at 1.6%, the low point of the economic recovery.
Insured rates of unemployment across states continued to vary. Near the low end of the range were South Dakota (0.48%), Florida (0.60%), North Carolina (0.64%), South Carolina (0.76%), Tennessee (0.81 %) and Virginia (0.83%). At the high end of the scale were Illinois (2.34%), Massachusetts (2.36%), Connecticut (2.48%), Pennsylvania (2.62%), New Jersey (2.68%) and Alaska (4.00%). The state data are not seasonally adjusted.
Data on weekly unemployment insurance are contained in Haver's WEEKLY database and they are summarized monthly in USECON. Data for individual states are in REGIONW. The expectations figure is from the Action Economics survey, carried in the AS1REPNA database.
Unemployment Insurance (000s) | 04/23/16 | 04/16/16 | 04/09/16 | Y/Y | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Initial Claims | 257 | 248 | 253 | -2.2% | 277 | 307 | 342 |
Continuing Claims | -- | 2,130 | 2,135 | -5.5% | 2,268 | 2,607 | 2,978 |
Insured Unemployment Rate (%) | -- | 1.6 | 1.6 |
1.7 |
1.7 | 2.0 | 2.3 |