High-Frequency Update: 4-27-25
The U.S. hotel occupancy rate fell last week and remained down over the year
Arizona initial claims for unemployment insurance ticked up to 4,495 for the week ended April 19, up from 4,439 the prior week. That was down 6.9% over the year and down 15.7% from 2019.
U.S. initial claims for unemployment insurance fell to 209,782 for the week ended April 19, down from 220,996 the prior week. That was up 3.5% over the year but down 0.9% from 2019.
The U.S. hotel occupancy rate fell to 61.4% for the week ended April 19, down from 65.6% the prior week. That was down 8.1% over the year and down 6.5% from 2019.
U.S. movie box office sales fell to $197.5 million for the week ended April 24, down from $215.5 million the prior week. That was up 123.3% over the year and up 30.5% from 2019. New movie releases were down 55.6% from 2019.
U.S. TSA traveler throughput were roughly stable over the week at 17.4 million for the week ending April 19. That was up 0.6% over the year and up 5.4% from 2019.
Weekly data on Arizona new business applications continue to be published by the Census Bureau, but only on a monthly basis. In March, weekly new business applications ranged from 1,100 to 720. A business application total of 1,100 was very high and represented an increase over the year of 59.4%.
Data on seated diners at restaurants using the OpenTable app is no longer being updated to compare the current week to 2019 results.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: International students have been a bonanza for U.S. communities (Governing 4/22)
Automation / AI: How DOGE is using AI in government | The TechTank Podcast (Brookings 4/21)
Demographic / socioeconomic / Census: With CDC injury prevention team gutted, ‘we will not know what is killing us’ (NPR 4/21)
Economy: What’s driving the surge in U.S. corporate profits? (FRBSL 4/21)
Education / early childhood development: Major education resource set to shut down this week (Governing 4/22)
Energy / environment / infrastructure: Freeport-McMoRan braces for potential copper tariffs, meets Q1 expectations (PBJ 4/24)
Housing / real estate: Supply constraints do not explain house price and quantity growth across U.S. cities (FRBSF 3/21)
Commercial real estate: TSMC’s $165B Phoenix campus fuels industrial demand in Northwest Valley (PBJ 4/24)
Mexico/trade: Why a new Trump tomato tariff could take an economic toll on Arizona (AR 4/19)
Prices/inflation: Demand versus supply: which is more important for inflation? (FRBSF 4/24)
Wages/income/wealth: What to know as the government begins collections on defaulted student debt (NPR 4/23)
Workforce/employment/labor market: A historical and geographical look at federal employment levels (FRBSL 4/17)