In the week ending Sept. 20, the number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment insurance benefits fell by 14,000 to 218,000—the lowest level in nine weeks bit.ly/46okxa6

💼 Small businesses help drive the economy, but access to capital is crucial for their growth. Dive into our blog post on bank lending trends in rural areas, including banking deserts. Read now: bit.ly/3VB7JqE

FRED has price index data for many countries and many products, including postage stamps. Check the FRED Blog for an analysis of Europe’s post office posture bit.ly/4niHilB

The nation’s personal saving rate as a share of disposable personal income edged lower for a fourth straight month in August, dipping to 4.6%. See this result and newly released BEA News revisions starting in January 2020 in archival database ALFRED: bit.ly/46BzRPm

The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index increased at an annual rate of 2.7% in August, up from a 2.6% rise in July. Excluding food and energy costs, the “core PCE” price level held at 2.9% on an annual basis bit.ly/4nwuoRm

Trimmed mean PCE inflation rate, an alternate measure of core inflation from Dallas Fed, was 2.75% for the 12 months ending in August, little changed from July bit.ly/42fngA6

U.S. commercial paper outstanding dipped to the lowest level since mid-March in the week ending Sept. 24, declining by $5 billion from a week earlier to $1.38 trillion bit.ly/42g9hKp

🏦📊 Regional Insight: In the St. Louis Fed’s Eighth District, small business lending by banks declined 12% from 2019 to 2023. Nationally, the drop was 18%. What was the breakdown for urban and rural areas? For firms in new or persistent banking deserts? bit.ly/4gKhPzh

In the latest Central Banker newsletter: Is generative AI contributing to rising unemployment? bit.ly/483jj5k

What anchors inflation expectations? A new analysis breaks down how anticipated drift from the Fed’s 2% target and divergence among forecasts each contribute to the overall degree of anchoring at various horizons bit.ly/4gSSTFS

What did the pandemic do to trends in net worth? The FRED Blog tracks big changes in wealth for two groups of U.S. households bit.ly/4pOklsi

The daily trade-weighted U.S. dollar index was measuring 111.8 as of Sept. 26 (January 2006=100). Want to track this index or other foreign exchange rates from Federal Reserve? See FRED: bit.ly/3IGBmE3

How did the distribution of net worth change after the pandemic? The FRED Blog explains: bit.ly/4nZHAxW

Which macroeconomic announcements tend to be most often associated with jumps in U.S. stock prices? A new post on our blog explores this question using more than 10 years of the DJIA bit.ly/4nDAyPi

New from our blog: An analysis looks at two datasets to understand what’s driving the degree to which U.S. inflation expectations are anchored to the Fed’s 2% target. Read more: bit.ly/3KpJ99P

Net worth is the difference between total assets and total liabilities. Check the FRED Blog to learn about the changes in net worth since the pandemic bit.ly/4nuEYrX

Total nonfarm job openings were little changed in August, at 7.2 million. Hires fell by 114,000, to 5.1 million bit.ly/3IJtdi0

In August, U.S. job separations decreased by 110,000 to 5.11 million. Within separations, quits ticked down to 3.09 million and layoffs and discharges fell to 1.73 million #JOLTS bit.ly/4mNpjmr

See FRED for the latest BLS-Labor Statistics data on job openings by census region and sector #JOLTS bit.ly/4pTiG4M

In July, U.S. home prices as measured by the S&P/Case-Shiller National Home Price Index rose a seasonally adjusted 1.7% year over year, down from 1.9% in June. The 20- and 10-city composite indexes posted 1.8% and 2.3% annual gains, respectively bit.ly/3VLDw8i