Initial Claims decreased to 391,000, for the week ending 02/19, against the expected decrease to 401,000, after increasing to 413,000, the revised level for the previous week. The 4-week moving average decreased to 402,000, the lowest level in more than two years, from the previous week’s revised average of 418,500. Seasonally adjusted insured unemployment from the prior week, ending on 02/12, was 3,790,000, a decrease of 145,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 3, 935,000. Seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate from the week ending on 02/12, was 3.0%, a decrease of 0.1% from the previous week’s unrevised figure of 3.1%.
Durable Orders increased by 2.7% or $5.3 billion, during January to $200.5 billion, lower than the expected 3.1% increase. This increase follows three consecutive monthly decreases including a 0.4% decrease in December. Excluding transportation, new orders decreased 3.6%. Excluding defense, new orders increased 1.9%. Transportation equipment, also up following three consecutive monthly decreases, had the largest increase, $10.9 billion or 27.6% to $50.5 billion. This was led by nondefense aircraft and parts, which increased $7.3 billion.
New Home Sales for January are expected today at 10:00 AM EST to decrease to a 303,000 annual pace, after increasing to an annual pace of 329,000 homes in December with a median sales price of $241,500 and an average sales price of $291,400.
Crude inventories are expected today at 10:30 AM EST. For the week ending February 11, U.S. commercial crude oil inventories had increased by 0.9 million barrels from the previous week to 345.9 million barrels and were above the upper limit of the average range for that time of year. U.S. crude oil refinery inputs averaged 13.9 million barrels per day during this period, 481 thousand barrels per day below the previous week’s average. U.S. crude oil imports were averaging 8.3 million barrels per day, down by 643 thousand barrels per day from the previous week.
Upcoming Releases
New Home Sales (02/24 at 10:00 AM EST)
Crude Inventories (02/24 at 10:30 AM EST)
GDP Q4 Preliminary (02/25 at 8:30 AM EST)
Personal Consumption Expenditures (02/28 at 8:30 AM EST)
