Recent Updates
- US: Regional Retail Sales (Sep)
- US: Household Employment for States and Regions (Sep)
- US: Regional Payroll Employment (Sep)
- US: Existing Home Sales Detail (Sep)
- Canada: CPI (Sep)
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- more updates...
Economy in Brief
U.S. Initial Jobless Insurance Claims Surge
Initial unemployment insurance claims spiked to 388,000...
U.S. Leading Indicators Recover
The Leading Economic Indicator index from the Conference Board
increased 0.6% last month following a 0.4% August decline...
Philadelphia Fed Business Activity Index Improves
The Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank reported that its General
Business Conditions Index rose...
U.S. Housing Starts Surge To Highest Level Since 2008
Last month builders began work on more new homes than
in any month in four years...
UK Unemployment Snakes Its Way Lower
UK unemployment measures have begun to bend lower...
U.S. Mortgage Applications Retreat
The Mortgage Bankers Association index of total mortgage applications
fell 4.2% last week...
Durable goods orders fell by an outsized 13.2% (-6.7% y/y) last month following a lessened 3.3% advance during July. A 4.5% decline had been the Consensus forecast. Fewer orders for transportation equipment led the decline with a roughly one-third drop paced by net cancellations of orders for nondefense aircraft. Orders for defense aircraft also were weak and posted an 8.1% (-28.3% y/y) decline. Less the transportation sector altogether, orders for durables fell 1.6% (-1.1% y/y).
Weakness in other industries was led by machinery where orders fell 4.7% (-10.1% y/y), off for the sixth month this year. Orders for computers and electronic products industries also posted a 3.4% (-3.9% y/y) decline, off for the fifth month in the last six. A 3.8% rise (-3.2% y/y) in electrical equipment orders picked up some of the slack. Nondefense capital goods orders fell by roughly one quarter (-21.5% y/y) with the cancelled aircraft bookings. Excluding aircraft, orders increased 1.1% (-3.1% y/y) following two months of sharp decline.
Shipments of durable goods also were weak last month and posted a 3.0% drop (+4.4% y/y). Again, the transportation sector led with a 7.9% (+9.2% y/y) decline. Excluding transportation, shipments fell 0.9% (+2.5% y/y). Unfilled orders fell 1.7% (+5.4% y/y) while inventories rose 0.6% (5.2% y/y).
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 | Aug | Jul | Jun | Y/Y | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
New Orders | -13.2 | 3.3 | 1.6 | -6.7 | 9.8 | 27.1 | -30.0 |
Transportation | -34.9 | 13.1 | 10.8 | -19.6 | 12.8 | 57.4 | -42.0 |
Total Excluding Transportation | -1.6 | -1.3 | -2.2 | -1.1 | 8.6 | 18.0 | -25.4 |
Nondefense Capital Goods | -24.3 | 4.8 | 2.4 | -21.5 | 13.2 | 36.3 | -36.9 |
Excluding Aircraft | 1.1 | -5.2 | -2.7 | -3.1 | 10.3 | 17.1 | -24.5 |
Shipments | -3.0 | 1.9 | -0.0 | 4.4 | 9.6 | 11.4 | -21.0 |
Inventories | 0.6 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 5.2 | 10.3 | 9.5 | -10.2 |
Unfilled Orders | -1.7 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 5.4 | 10.3 | 9.6 | -19.5 |