Initial Claims decreased to 450,000, the lowest level in two months, for the week ending 09/11, against the expected increase to 456,000, after decreasing to 453,000, the revised level for the previous week. The 4-week moving average decreased to 464,750, from the previous week’s revised average of 478,250. Seasonally adjusted insured unemployment from the prior week, ending on 09/04, was 4,485,000, a decrease of 84,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 4,569,000. Seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate from the week ending on 09/04, was 3.5%, a decrease of 0.1% from the previous week’s revised figure of 3.6%.
The Producer Price Index increased by 0.4% in August to 179.6 (1982=100), matching expectations, following a 0.2% increase in July and a 0.5% decrease in June. Over the year, the index has advanced 3.1%, the tenth consecutive12-month increase. The index for energy goods increased by 2.2% in August whereas prices for consumer foods decreased by 0.3%. Excluding food and energy prices, Core PPI increased 0.1%, after increasing by 0.3% in July, the largest such increase since January.
Net Foreign Purchases for July increased to $61.2 billion, following a June increase of $44.4 billion from $35.3 billion in May. Net foreign purchases of long-term U.S. securities were $73.8 billion, $69.0 billion of which were from private foreign investors and net purchases by foreign official institutions were $4.8 billion. U.S. residents purchased a net $12.6 billion of long-term foreign securities.
Upcoming Releases
CPI (09/17 at 8:30 AM EST)
Housing Starts (09/21 at 8:30 AM EST)
Building Permits (09/21 at 8:30 AM EST)
FOMC Policy Statement (09/21 at 2:15 PM EST)
