The Census Bureau said that new durable goods orders rose 3.0 percent in October, rebounding from declines in both August and September.
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The Commerce Department also said orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, a closely watched indicator of capital spending, jumped by 1.3 percent in October after rising by 0.4 percent in September. Hard goods orders probably scraped out a slight gain of 0.3%, which helped in recovering the last month’s decline.
Stronger demand for computers, heavy machinery, military hardware and jumbo jets boosted orders for durable goods in October. Neither EconoTimes nor its third party suppliers shall be liable for any errors, omissions or delays in content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. “That’s now over, and the underlying upward trend in place before the oil hit is re-emerging”. Defense orders increased 1% in October.
For October, orders for commercial aircraft shot up 81 percent after a 32.2 percent plunge the previous month. Ex-transportation orders had been expected to climb by 0.4 percent. The majority of the increase was attributable to an 8.0 percent increase in new orders for transportation equipment.
Business investment peaked in September 2014 but has since trended lower, in part reflecting a hefty drop in spending on oil- and gas-field machinery. The stronger dollar makes USA products more expensive overseas and foreign goods cheaper at home.
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Other measures of manufacturing have been mixed recently. But the manufacturing component of the Federal Reserve’s industrial production index increased in 0.4 per cent October, the best gain since July. Overall, this past year has been a tough one for manufacturers, with a number of headwinds dampening demand and production. “This is a solid report, pointing to a strong start for fourth quarter equipment spending”.
