High-Frequency Update: 9-13-26

Sept. 13, 2026

By Niaoniao You, EBRC Senior Economic Forecaster

New business applications stayed strong

Third quarter 2020 forecast update webinar

Arizona initial claims for unemployment insurance increased to 2,516 for the week ending September 5, up from 2,337 the prior week. The number of initial claims was down 15.6% over the year and 20.2% from the 2023-25 average for this week.

U.S. weekly initial claims for unemployment insurance (not seasonally adjusted) climbed to 176,567 for the week ending September 5, up from 171,403 (revised up) the prior week. That was down 13.8% over the year and 5.3% from the 2023-25 average for this week.

U.S. regular gas price rose to $4.157/gallon for the week ending September 7, up from $4.071/gallon the prior week. That was up 30.2% over the year and 21.7% from the 2023-25 average for this week.

U.S. movie box office sales edged down to $140.2 million for the week ending September 10, from $140.5 million (revised up) the prior week. That was down 11.9% over the year and 9.4% from the 2023-25 average for this week. New movie releases were down 24.7% over the year and 11.2% from the 2023-25 average for this week.

The U.S. hotel occupancy rate fell to 63.0% for the week ending September 5, down from 64.1% the prior week. That was up 9.2% over the year and 7.5% from the 2023-25 average for this week.

U.S. TSA traveler throughput rose to 16.4 million for the week ending September 5. That was up 2.0% over the year and 3.0% from the 2023-25 average for this week.

Weekly data on Arizona new business applications is published by the Census Bureau only on a monthly basis. Weekly data for August ranged from 710 to 810, continuing its recent strength. Applications last month were up 14.9% from the 2023-25 average for August.

Key News Articles and Research (subscription may be required)

Curated by Valorie Rice, Senior Business Information Specialist

Arizona and general topics: ASU among 8 universities to lead national manufacturing workforce initiative (PBJ 9/7)
Automation / AI: The building blocks hidden in A.I.: how tokens work (NYT 9/9)
Demographic / socioeconomic / Census: Mapped: How the American population map will shift by 2050 (Visual Capitalist 8/31)
Economy: Six charts that explain how Americans really feel about the economy (WSJ 9/8)
Education / early childhood development: A year later, what teens tell us about school cellphone bans (Brookings 9/10)
Energy / environment / infrastructure: U.S. and Mexico sign new deal for sharing Colorado River water (KJZZ 9/10)
Federal statistics: Experts raise alarms over Census Bureau report Trump is touting on noncitizen voting (NPR 8/20)
Housing / real estate: Home sales in August tumbled to lowest level since last year (WSJ 9/10)
Mexico/trade: The states on the front lines of the trade war with Canada (WSJ 9/8)
Prices/inflation: Firm inflation reading pushes Fed closer to a rate increase (WSJ 9/11)
Public finance: How states get their cut of the cannabis industry (Census Bureau 9/10)
Wages/income/wealth: Which debt payments do borrowers prioritize? Evidence from 2025-2026 consumer survey data (FRBP)
Workforce/employment/labor market: Traditional labor market data isn’t keeping up with jobs in the ‘frontier economy’ (Brookings 9/10)

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.