Initial Claims dropped down to 530,000 claims for the week ending 09/19, 4,000 claims lower than expected, with a decrease of 21,000 from the previous week’s revised claims of 551,000. The 4-week moving average was 553,000, a decrease of 11,000 from the previous week’s moving average. Seasonally adjusted insured unemployment from the past week ending on 09/12 was 6,138,000, a decrease of 123,000 from the preceding week’s revised level, adjusting the seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate downward by 0.1% to 4.6%.  The decrease in filings is a corollary of fewer layoffs in trade, service, manufacturing, and industrial machinery industries predominantly in Texas, Illinois, and Pennsylvania.

Existing Home Sales in August slid by 2.7% down to a 5.10 million annual pace, from the 5.24 million pace in July, although remaining 3.4% above August 2008 levels of 4.96 million.  August breaks the 4 month streak of increases in this indicator, which had a cumulative increase of 15.1% during that period.  The national median existing-home price for all housing types was $177,700 in August, down from $178,400 in July, and is 12.5% below the August 2008 median.  Regionally, existing-home sales in the Northeast declined by 2.2% to an annual pace of 910,000, with a median price of $241,100.  Sales in Midwest fell by 6.6% to 1.14 million with a median price of $149,900.  In the South, existing-home sales were down by 3.1% to an annual pace of 1.89 million, with a median price of $157,400. Existing-home sales in the West edged down by 2.7% over the month to an annual rate of 1.16 million, with a median sales price of $220,500.  Housing inventory fell by 10.8% over the month to 3.62 million available homes, representing an 8.5 month supply at the current sales pace. 

Upcoming Releases
Durable Orders (09/25 at 8:30 AM EST)
New Home Sales (09/25 at 10:00 AM EST)
Case-Shiller Home Price Indices (09/29 at 9:00 AM EST)
Consumer Confidence (09/29 at 10:00 AM EST)
GDP Q2 Final (09/30 at 8:30 AM EST)

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