Economic Collapse

[basserdan]

8:30a Initial Jobless Claims
Initial Claims - Level 351K actual vs 335K (rev) prior
Consensus Outlook
Jobless claims for the September 18 week (also the sample week for the monthly employment report) are expected to come in at 309,000 versus 332,000 in the prior week and 349,000 in the sample week for the August employment report.
Definition
New unemployment claims are compiled weekly to show the number of individuals who filed for unemployment insurance for the first time. An increasing (decreasing) trend suggests a deteriorating (improving) labor market. The four-week moving average of new claims smooths out weekly volatility.


8:30a Chicago Fed National Activity Index
Index 0.29 actual vs 0.75 (rev) prior
Consensus Outlook
The expectation for August's national activity is 0.50 which would compare with July's stronger-than-expected 0.53 and June's lower-than-expected minus 0.01.
Definition
The Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) is a monthly index that tracks overall economic activity and inflationary pressures. The CFNAI is a weighted average of 85 existing monthly indicators of national economic activity. It is constructed to have an average value of zero and a standard deviation of one. Since economic activity tends toward trend growth over time, a positive index reading corresponds to growth above trend and a negative index reading corresponds to growth below trend.