Durable Goods Orders Up... Not Exactly What it Seems

Marketwatch with the details:

Orders for U.S.-made durable goods rose 2.7% in January on stronger demand for civilian aircraft, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. The increase in total orders was very close to the 2.5% gain that was the consensus forecast of economists polled by MarketWatch. This is the first increase in durables in four months. Orders for December were revised up sharply to a decline of only 0.4% from the prior estimate of a 2.3% decline.

Nondefense aircraft orders were up a whopping 4900% (after a crash in December). Without nondefense aircraft, orders were actually down a bit (though smoothing December, durable goods orders were actually up 2% ex nondefense aircraft).



Source: Census