High-Frequency Update: 11-10-24

Nov. 10, 2024

By George W. Hammond, EBRC director and Eller research professor

U.S. movie box office sales plunged last week

third-quarter-2020-forecast-update-webinar

Arizona initial claims for unemployment insurance fell to 2,649 for the week ended November 2, down from 3,004 the prior week. That was down 23.2% over the year and down 33.2% from 2019.

U.S. initial claims for unemployment insurance bounced up to 212,274 for the week ended November 2, up from 201,447 the prior week. That was down 0.9% over the year but up 3.2% from 2019.

The U.S. hotel occupancy rate fell to 60.8% for the week ended November 2, down from 69.0% the prior week. That was up 1.8% over the year but down 3.0% from 2019.

U.S. movie box office sales plunged to $97.7 million for the week ended November 7, down from $127.1 million the prior week. That was up 18.5% over the year but down 37.8% from 2019. New movie releases were down 35.6% from 2019.

U.S. TSA traveler throughput fell to 16.2 million for the week ended November 2, down from 17.8 million the prior week. That was up 4.2% over the year and up 8.0% from 2019.

Weekly data Arizona new business applications will continue to be published by the Census Bureau, but only on a monthly basis. In September Arizona new business applications increased over the year for the first two weeks but weakened in the second half of the month. Applications were down 7.4% over the year for the week ended September 28, at 630.

Data on seated diners at restaurants using the OpenTable app is no longer being updated to compare the current week to 2019 results.

As of October 15, 2022, Google stopped updating mobility data.

Key News Articles and Research (subscription may be required)

Curated by Valorie Rice, Senior Business Information Specialist

Arizona and general topics: Could Trump halt billions of dollars for AZ’s semiconductor industry? (AR 11/8)
Automation / AI: Why it is too soon to call the hype on AI’s productivity promise (FT 11/6)
Demographic / socioeconomic / Census: Election results could mean major changes in Medicaid (Stateline 11/1)
Economy: Future Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts may hinge on Trump policies (PBJ 11/7)
Education / early childhood development: A constitutional amendment to change higher education governance in Nevada (Brookings 11/1)
Energy / environment / infrastructure: ‘Renewable energy growth is truly a 50-state story now’: new report shows big jump in solar, wind, EVs (Route-Fifty 11/6)
Housing / real estate: Return-to-office momentum is showing up in office space demand (PBJ 11/6)
Mexico/trade: You will pay for Donald Trump’s tariffs. Here’s proof (CNN 11/6)
Prices/inflation: Restaurants, other services still in grip of high inflation even as overall rate slows (AP 11/7)
Wages/income/wealth: Mapped: All U.S. states paying more than federal minimum wage (Visual Capitalist 10/19)
Workforce/employment/labor market: No, America’s battery plant boom isn’t going bust – construction is on track for the biggest factories, with over 23,000 jobs planned (Route-Fifty 11/1)

Weekly Indicators

Use your cursor as a tooltip and click on charts to view values. Click on the names of indicators listed at the bottom any chart to switch them on/off to view fewer at one time and make comparisons. Icons allow you to download and share.

Note: The official initial claims for unemployment insurance numbers for the U.S. are released every Thursday morning covering the week ending on the previous Saturday.

Note: See (http://www.eia.doe.gov/oil_gas/petroleum/data_publications/wrgp/mogas_home_page.html) for further definitions. Regular Gasoline has an antiknock index (average of the research octane rating and the motor octane number) greater than or equal to 85 and less than 88. Octane requirements may vary by altitude.

The U.S. Census Bureau continues to produce weekly estimates; however, the weekly estimate files are published as part of the Monthly Business Formation Statistics (BFS) Release.One key dataset with these estimates is High-Propensity Business Applications, a subset of total weekly business applications in Arizona that measures the number of applications with a high-propensity of turning into a business with a payroll, based on various factors. These data reflect weekly applications for Employer Identification Numbers (EINs) in Arizona which are likely to result in employment and wages. These include applications: (a) from a corporate entity, (b) that indicate they are hiring employees, purchasing a business or changing organizational type, (c) that provide a first wages-paid date (planned wages); or (d) that have a NAICS industry code in manufacturing (31-33), retail stores (44), health care (62), or restaurants/food service (72). Applications for EINs occur before the jobs and wages are added, so this is a leading indicator. Read more about the Business Application dataset from the U.S. Census Bureau.