Yesterday's News: Durable Goods

Traveling again today, so no GDP analysis by EconomPic this morning (tear). Instead yesterday's Durable Goods details.

Bloomberg details:

Durable-goods orders hovered near a 13-year low and the number of Americans collecting unemployment insurance reached a 17th straight record, offering no sign of an imminent rebound from the worst U.S. recession in half a century.

Orders rose 1.9 percent in April after a 2.1 percent drop in March that was more than twice as large as previously estimated, the Commerce Department said in Washington. Meanwhile, the Labor Department said 6.79 million people are collecting jobless benefits, and another report showed new-home sales were lower than forecast in April.

Looking the new orders YTD through April vs. the same time period in 2008, the ONLY area that has grown... defense.



Obvious guy says:

“We have a tough slog ahead of us,” said Carl Riccadonna, a senior U.S. economist at Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. in New York. “The recovery is going to be very slow in its emergence.”

Source: Census