Lousy Durable Goods Report

From Reuters:

Orders for long-lasting manufactured goods recorded their biggest drop in seven months in March and a gauge of planned business spending rose only modestly, signs of a slowdown in economic activity.

Durable goods orders slumped 5.7 percent as demand fell almost across the board, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday. The drop last month in orders for these goods, which range from toasters to aircraft, followed a 4.3 percent increase in February.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected orders to fall only 2.8 percent. Excluding transportation, orders declined 1.4 percent after falling 1.7 percent the prior month.

From transportation to primary metals and machinery, orders were weak, the latest indication of cooling in a sector that has played a pivotal role in the economy’s recovery from the 2007-09 recession.

“Overall, the weak tone of this report underscored the emerging narrative of a considerable slowing in economic growth momentum in March,” said Millan Mulraine, senior economist at TD Securities in New York.

This was the report for March. On Friday, the government will release its first estimate for Q1 GDP growth. The current consensus is for 3.2% but that may come down after today’s durable goods report.

Posted by on April 24th, 2013 at 10:28 am


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