The Census Bureau's report on the surge in orders for durable goods - things like cars, appliances and furniture that are expected to last more than three years - came as a pretty big surprise yesterday, rising by 4 percent in July after falling by 1.3 percent in June. A survey of economists by Bloomberg News had estimated the rise at half of that.
Transportation equipment - cars and aircraft, mostly - was responsible for most of the gain, with orders rising 14.6 percent for the month. Nondefense aircraft was up a whopping 43 percent. Even without the transportation sector, though, the remainder of the durable goods category rose by 0.7 percent in July. The big loser: communications equipment, which dropped by 25 percent on the month.
Not only did orders for durable goods increase in July, but shipments did as well, going up by 2.5 percent. Inventories increased as well, and are now at their highest level since the statistics were first kept on this in 1992.
No comments:
Post a Comment