High-Frequency Update: 2-22-26

Feb. 22, 2026

By George W. Hammond, EBRC research professor

U.S. movie box office sales spiked last week

Third quarter 2020 forecast update webinar

Arizona initial claims for unemployment insurance dropped to 2,292 for the week ended February 14, down from 2,513 the prior week. That was down 20.5% over the year and down 28.9% from 2019.

U.S. weekly initial claims for unemployment insurance fell to 207,694 for the week ended February 14, down from 250,203 the prior week. That was down 7.1% over the year and down 1.4% from 2019.

The U.S. hotel occupancy rate bounced up to 61.5% for the week ended February 14, up from 56.4% the prior week. That was up 2.5% over the year but down 3.1% from 2019.

U.S. movie box office sales spiked to $166.5 million for the week ended February 19, up from $83.9 million the prior week. That was down 19.9% over the year and down 9.4% from 2019. New movie releases were down 30.6% from 2019.

U.S. TSA traveler throughput rose to 15.7 million for the week ended February 14, up from 14.5 million the prior week. That was up 0.7% over the year and up 15.7% from 2019.

Weekly data on Arizona new business applications continue to be published by the Census Bureau, but only on a monthly basis. Weekly data for January ranged from a high of 920 to a low of 200 during the holiday week. Overall, new business applications remain strong, compared to pre-pandemic levels.

Data on seated diners at restaurants using the OpenTable app is no longer being updated to compare the current week to 2019 results.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: The 5 C’s: they don’t drive Arizona’s economy today, but mark when state came into its own (KJZZ 2/18)
Automation / AI: Thousands of CEOs just admitted AI had no impact on employment or productivity – and it has economists resurrecting a paradox from 40 years ago (Fortune 2/17)
Demographic / socioeconomic / Census: Immigrant surge helped boost GOP states’ population, and they may gain US House seats as a result (Stateline 2/11)
Federal statistics: Public and private labor market data: insights from the government shutdown (FRBR)
Economy: Government shutdown weighs on US economic growth in fourth quarter (Reuters 2/20)
Education / early childhood development: In Arizona, a push for school voucher accountability (Forbes 2/18)
Energy / environment / infrastructure: Arizona and western states miss Colorado River water deadline as cuts loom (AZPM 2/16)
Housing / real estate: When houses outrun paychecks: the lost decades of housing affordability (FRBSL 2/12)
Mexico/trade: Supreme Court strikes down Trump’s tariffs (NPR 2/20)
Prices/inflation: Predicting PCE using the Richmond Fed’s regional surveys (FRBR 2/11)
Public finance: Why the federal deficit is projected to surge, in five charts (WSJ 2/19)
Workforce/employment/labor market: Unauthorized immigration effects on local labor markets (FRBSF 2/17)

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.