US durable goods orders jump past forecasts in May

According to the US Department of Commerce, in seasonally adjusted terms, durable goods orders surged at a month-on-month pace of 1.7% to reach $288.2bn.

Economists had penciled in a drop of 1.0% over the month and April increase was revised up by a tenth of a percentage point to 1.2%.

Even excluding transportation, orders were ahead by 0.65 and by 3.0% when those for Defence were taken out.

Orders in the often volatile category of civilian aircraft and parts were especially strong, advancing by 32.5% to $21.78bn.

Defence aircraft and parts orders on the other hand plummeted by 35.4% to $4.98bn.

There was also strength in orders for machinery, which rose by 1%, in those for motor vehicles and parts which grew by 2.2% and in those for electrical equipment which were up by 1.7%.

Orders for capital goods excluding aircraft and defence meanwhile strengthened by 0.7%.

Commenting on the latest figures, Kieran Clancy at Pantheon Macroeconomics noted that it was the third large upwards surprise in durable goods orders for a third successive month.

That meant that it was hard to explain away the gap in the data versus leading indicators and surveys as simply 'noise'.

Nevertheless, he went on to add: "That said, the April leap in transport orders ex-autos and aircraft is entirely at odds with the flat trend in recent years, so a sharp drop in the months ahead due to mean-reversion still seems a reasonable bet."

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