Durable Goods Miss in January

Bloomberg details:

Orders for U.S. durable goods fell in January by the most in three years, led by a slowdown in demand for commercial aircraft and business equipment. Bookings for goods meant to last at least three years slumped 4 percent, more than forecast, after a revised 3.2 percent gain the prior month, data from the Commerce Department showed today in Washington.

The expiration at the end of 2011 of a tax incentive allowing full depreciation on equipment purchases may have prompted a slowdown in investment at the start of this year.

Caution always must be taken when analyzing monthly data in that it may just be noise (after all, December's figure and 2011 were strong), but this report was ugly none-the-less.

Source: Census