Durable Goods Data Beat Expectations, Hinting At Better Mid-Year Growth

The Commerce Department said Thursday durable goods orders increased by 2.6 percent in March, beating Wall Street’s expectations. while demand rose across all categories. Durable goods range from toasters to aircraft and are meant to last three years.

Orders for long-lasting manufacturing goods increased by 2.1 percent in February, not the previously reported 2.2 percent. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast orders rising 2.0 percent last month.

Growth in the first quarter of the year is expected to have slumped significantly, with an excessive inventory from last year carried over from businesses, who then placed fewer orders for goods.

First-quarter gross domestic product growth is estimated around a 1.5 percent annual rate. The economy grew at a 2.6 percent rate in the fourth quarter.

The new durable goods data also show non-defense capital goods orders — excluding aircraft — which is a closely watched indicator for future spending in individual business plans, increased by 2.2 percent in March following a decreased by a revised 1.1 percent the February.

Economists had expected orders for these core capital goods, as they are dubbed, to have increased by 1.5 percent last mont, following a previously reported 1.4 percent decline in February.

Core capital goods shipments rose 1.0 percent in the month of March. Shipments of core capital goods, which are including when calculating spending on equipment in the government’s GDP measurement, increased 0.7 percent in February.

Orders for motor vehicles increased by just 0.4 percent after increasing by a hefty 4.3 percent the prior month. Excluding transportation, order gained 2.0 percent, which was the largest increase since January of last year.

There were also increases in orders for machinery, fabricated metal products, electrical equipment, appliances and components. Meanwhile, orders for computers and electronic products increased by the largest margin since November of 2010.