US durable goods orders rise as expected in March, details weaker
Boeing Co.
$153.73
06:15 05/11/24
Orders in the U.S. for goods made to last more than three years rose by slightly more than expected last month.
Dow Jones I.A.
42,100.18
04:30 15/10/20
Yet the details of the report were noticeably weaker.
According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, in seasonally adjusted terms durable goods orders grew at a month-on-month pace of 2.6% in March (consensus: 2.5%).
However, the prior month's gains was revised lower, from a preliminary print of 1.4% to 0.7%.
Furthermore, the lion's shares of March's increased was the result of a 31% jump in orders for Boeing aircraft.
Indeed, excluding the entire transportation sector, then total orders were up by only 0.2% over the month in March and by 0.1% in February.
Orders for capital goods excluding civilian aircraft and defence, which are considered a good gauge of underlying trends in investment, were ahead by just 0.2%.
Commenting on the latest figures, Bernard Yaros, Lead U.S. economist at Oxford Economics, told clients: "If our real-time tracker of real equipment spending is correct, it would mark the sharpest decline since Q3 2021 and the third quarterly drop in a row.
"We still look for real equipment spending to record subdued growth this year and accelerate meaningfully in 2025."