Unemployment Insurance Claims, Retail Sales

Each day the Research staff takes a look at recently released economic indicators, addressing what these indicators mean for REALTORS® and their clients. Today’s update discusses unemployment insurance claims and retail sales.

• Two pieces of economic data came out today. The unemployment insurance claims rose back to an uncomfortable range with 399,000 filing for unemployment checks for the first time in the past week. The figure needs to be in the 350,000 or so weekly pace to say that job recovery is going at a good pace. It was trending down nicely in the past four weeks, with 375,000 in the week prior.
• The total number receiving unemployment checks and not just the first-timers was 3.63 million, which is up from 3.61 million in the prior week, though down from 3.95 million this time one year ago.
• Among the states with a meaningful change in the past week, California had fewer people filing for jobless benefits in the past week, but Michigan and Wisconsin had more.
• In separate data news, retail sales barely rose in December, with just a 0.1 percent gain. That is to say this holiday season did not get the big bang as in past Decembers. From one year ago, the cash registers at retail shops notched a 6.5 percent gain in December, which is a deceleration from 7 to 9 percent year-over-year gains recorded in the other months of last year.
• Related to the housing sector, sales at furniture and home furnishing shops were strengthening. The 5.6 percent gain from one-year ago is the strongest since 2006, attesting to the recent housing market recovery leading to consumer spending gains in housing related goods.
• Related to potential commercial retail space demand, sales at department stores fell while they rose at warehouse clubs and superstores.