US DATA
Job openings surprise lower with possible hurricane impact, whilst quit rates on balance point to a still low level having declined after a reasonable upward revision.
- Job openings surprised lower with 7443k (cons 8000k) in September after a downward revised 7861k (initial 8040k) in Aug.
- The decline on the month was led by a 325k drop in openings in the South which could be hurricane-related.
- The rate to unemployed dipped fractionally to 1.09 from a downward revised 1.10 (initial 1.13). It was more notably biased higher by the large 281k decline in unemployment from the September payrolls report.
- It leaves a ratio to unemployed little changed from July’s 1.08 that had marked the lowest since May-2021. It clearly remains low by recent standards, below the 1.19 seen in 2019 although is still a little elevated compared to earlier pre-pandemic years such as the 1.00 averaged in 2017-18.
- Quits rate: 1.93% after an upward revised 2.00% (initial 1.94). 2019 av 2.33, 2017-18 av 2.20.
- Private quits: 2.12% after 2.21% (initial 2.15). 2019 av 2.59, 2017-18 av 2.45.
- The decline after upward revisions leaves the same story as we thought last month: outside of the depths of the pandemic, these are the lowest quit rates since late 2014/early 2015.
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