This report will not be updated until Tuesday, August 25 due to vacation time
In the week ended July 25, initial claims rose by 25 000 from an upwardly revised 559 000 to 584 000, while a figure of 575 000 was expected. The bigger than expected increase is no surprise as in the previous weeks, the claims were artificially low due to seasonal adjustment factors. Continuing claims, on the contrary, unexpectedly dropped by 54 000 from an upwardly revised 6 251 000 to 6 197 000.
EMU: Economic confidence improves further in July
In July, European Commission’s economic confidence rose from a revised 73.2 to 76.0, while an outcome of 75.0 was forecasted. The details show that the improvement was broad based with increases in consumer (-23 from -25), industrial (-30 from -32) and services (-18 from -20) confidence. Also the business climate indicator surprised on the upside of expectations rising from an upwardly revised -2.92 to -2.71. Nevertheless, the figures hardly contain new information and only confirm the recent development in the other European sentiment indicators.
In July, German unemployment dropped by 6 000, while an increase by 43 000 was expected. The Federal Labour Agency however said that the unexpected decline was caused by statistical changes. Excluding these, unemployment would have risen by 24 000. Employment, which is reported with a one-month lag, dropped by 36 000 in June and the unemployment rate stayed unchanged at 8.3% (in July).
