US job openings probably contracted temporarily in September

Echoing a decline in the Conference Board's online help-wanted advertising series, the Bureau of Labor Statistics' tally of available positions likely fell by 85K to 5.29 million in September, 380K off the record-high 5.67 million postings recorded in July. 

"We would caution against reading too much into any decline in this week's report", says Societe Generale.

Initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits remain at very low levels, while those on state and federal benefits rolls continue to subside. Perhaps even more important, the Conference Board reported that online job solicitations jumped by 172K to 5.45 million in October, a mere 14K shy of March's all-time high