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Economy in Brief
German PPI Accelerates
The German year-on-year PPI has generally been decelerating since early 2017...
U.S. Leading Economic Indicators Signal Continued Expansion
The Conference Board's Composite Index of Leading Economic Indicators increased 0.3% during March...
Philadelphia Fed Factory Conditions Improve; Prices Jump
The Philadelphia Fed reported that its General Factory Sector Business Conditions Index rose to 23.2 during April...
U.S. Initial Claims for Unemployment Insurance Are Little Changed
Initial unemployment insurance claims slipped to 232,000 (-6.1% y/y) during the week ended April 14...
U.K. Retail Sales Fall
U.K. GDP is expected to cool its jets when the first quarter GDP number is released...
by Tom Moeller May 27, 2014
Manufacturing sector activity continues to register surprising improvement. New orders for durable goods increased 0.8% during April (7.1% y/y) following a 3.6% March rise, initially reported as 2.6%. The increase beat expectations for a 0.7% decline in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. New orders for transportation equipment continued to lead the monthly increase with a 2.3% advance (12.3% y/y) which added to even stronger gains in the prior two months. It reflected a 13.1% jump (5.6% y/y) in defense aircraft & parts bookings. Commercial aircraft & parts orders declined 4.1% (22.5% y/y) after two strong monthly increases while motor vehicle & parts bookings were off 1.0% (+0.8% y/y).
Outside of the transportation sector new orders ticked 0.1% higher (4.8% y/y) last month following a 2.9% jump. New orders for electrical equipment and appliances gained 1.1% (4.1% y/y). The rise was offset, however, by a 2.9% drop (+7.2% y/y) in machinery bookings and a 1.1% shortfall (+2.9% y/y) in orders for computers & electronic products. Fabricated metals orders jumped 3.4% (-0.2% y/y) but primary metals orders declined 0.4% (+5.5% y/y). Nondefense capital goods orders declined 1.0% (+6.7% y/y) following a 9.7% surge. Orders excluding aircraft were off 1.2% (+3.9% y/y) after a 4.7% jump.
Shipments of durable goods slipped 0.2% (+4.6% y/y) on the heels of two months of strong increase. Shipments excluding the transportation sector ticked 0.1% higher (5.1% y/y) following a 1.4% advance. Unfilled orders improved 1.0% (8.2% y/y) after a 0.8% gain, while order backlogs outside of the transportation sector rose 0.7% (6.0% y/y) for the second consecutive month. Inventories of durable goods ticked 0.1% higher (4.3% y/y) after March's 0.2% rise. Inventories outside the transportation sector were unchanged (2.2% y/y) following a 0.1% uptick.
The durable goods figures are available in Haver's USECON database. The Action Economics consensus forecast figure is in the AS1REPNA database.
Durable Goods NAICS Classification | Apr | Mar | Feb | Y/Y | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
New Orders (SA, %) | 0.8 | 3.6 | 2.6 | 7.1 | 5.2 | 4.1 | 11.0 |
Transportation | 2.3 | 5.0 | 6.9 | 12.3 | 7.9 | 8.9 | 14.9 |
Total Excluding Transportation | 0.1 | 2.9 | 0.8 | 4.8 | 4.0 | 2.1 | 9.5 |
Nondefense Capital Goods | -1.0 | 9.7 | -1.8 | 6.7 | 8.7 | 3.7 | 15.3 |
Excluding Aircraft | -1.2 | 4.7 | 0.1 | 3.9 | 5.0 | 2.1 | 11.6 |
Shipments | -0.2 | 1.3 | 1.1 | 4.6 | 3.7 | 6.4 | 9.4 |
Inventories | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.8 | 4.3 | 3.8 | 4.5 | 10.8 |
Unfilled Orders | 1.0 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 8.2 | 7.0 | 3.6 | 10.0 |