Initial Claims increased to 480,000, for the week ending 01/30, exceeding the expected decrease to 453,000, after decreasing to 472,000, the revised level for the previous week. The 4-week moving average increased to 468,750, from the previous week’s revised average of 457,000.Seasonally adjusted insured unemployment from the prior week, ending on 01/23, was 4,602,000, an increase of 2,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 4,600,000. Seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate from the week ending on 01/23, was 3.5%, unchanged from the previous week’s unrevised figure of 3.5%. Tomorrow, the monthly employment situation is scheduled for release by the Bureau of Labor Statistics at 8:30 AM EST and the unemployment rate is expected to increase to 10.1% for January from 10% recorded in December.
Nonfarm Productivity for the 4th quarter gained 6.2% annualized, according to preliminary data from the BLS, lower than the expected 6.3% increase. Nonfarm productivity increased by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter of 2009, revised from 8.1%, after increasing by 6.9% and 0.3% in the 2nd and 1st quarters of 2009. Productivity has increased by 5.1% over the last four quarters, more than any similar period since the first quarter of 2002. Unit Labor Costs fell by 4.4% in the 4th quarter, based on preliminary data, more than the expected 3.1% decline, following a 1.5% decrease in the figure from the 3rd quarter, revised from the initial 2.5% decline.
Factory Orders for December are scheduled for release today at 10:00 AM EST, and are expected to increase by 0.6% following the November increase of 1.1% to $365.3 billion.
Upcoming Releases
Factory Orders (02/04 at 10:00 AM EST)
Unemployment Rate (02/05 at 8:30 AM EST)
Consumer Credit (02/05 at 3:00 PM EST)
Wholesale Inventories (02/09 at 10:00 AM EST)
