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Economy in Brief
U.S. Housing Affordability Declines Further in June
The NAR Fixed Rate Mortgage Housing Affordability Index fell 3.6% in June...
EMU Output Makes Solid Gain in June
The European Monetary Union posted a 0.7% increase for industrial output in June...
U.S. Producer Prices Fall During July; Core Increase Weakens
The Producer Price Index for Final Demand fell 0.5% during July...
U.S. Unemployment Claims Continue on an Uptrend
Initial claims for unemployment insurance filed in the week ended August 6 rose 14,000 to 262,000...
RICS Survey Points to More U.K. Housing Sector Weakness
The survey of housing market conditions in the U.K. continues to show strength in prices versus weakness...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
by Tom Moeller April 27, 2005
Orders received by U.S. manufacturers of durable goods dropped 2.8% last month following a revised 0.2% dip in February. It was the third consecutive monthly decline in new orders. Consensus expectations had been for a 0.3% rise.
Lower orders for transportation equipment, down 7.8% (-15.3% y/y), reflected steep declines in orders for both civilian (-22.7% m/m, -15.3% y/y) and defense (-35.0% m/m, -23.0% y/y) aircraft. The third consecutive decline motor vehicle & parts orders (-11.0% y/y) also contributed. Less transportation durable orders fell 1.0% (+3.9% y/y).
Orders for non-defense capital goods fell 6.2%. Less aircraft, the 4.7% decline reflected a 3.4% (+0.6% y/y) drop in orders for electrical equipment and a 7.6% drop in orders for machinery (+0.5% y/y). Computer & electronic product orders rose 2.2% (7.9% y/y).
Shipments of durables slipped 0.2% (+3.5% y/y) while durable inventories rose 0.4% (9.6% y/y). That rise caused the I/S ratio to increase to its highest level since late 2003.
Unfilled orders fell 0.5% (+6.6% y/y) and the ratio of backlogs to shipments gave back some of prior month's sharp increase.
NAICS Classification | Mar | Feb | Y/Y | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Durable Goods Orders | -2.8% | -0.2% | -1.7% | 10.8% | 2.6% | -1.7% |
Nondefense Capital Goods | -6.2% | -0.7% | 1.1% | 13.7% | 5.6% | -7.2% |
Excluding Aircraft | -4.7% | -2.5% | 1.6% | 11.7% | 6.6% | -7.1% |