WASHINGTON – Manufacturers’ orders for durable goods rose a seasonally adjusted 5.9 percent last month, tripling their 1.9-percent June increase, according to a report today from the U.S. Bureau of the Census.
The increase – the fifth in the past six months – was the sharpest since the monthly report was redesigned in 1992.
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It far exceeded the 1.0-percent increase that was the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of economists. Their predictions ranged from 0.3 percent to 6.0 percent.
Leading the rise were increases in business spending and industrial production. Orders excluding transportation equipment rose 3.7 percent, the most in almost two years. Among capital goods, non-defense orders excluding aircraft rose 2.2 percent after decreasing 0.1 percent in June.
Excluding defense, orders increased 4.9 percent. Aircraft orders rose 12.6 percent, extending the 37.1 percent rise in June. Orders for autos rose 9.8 percent, the biggest increase since January 2003, after declining 0.7 percent the prior month.
“It looks like corporate spending plans remain unimpaired for the time being,” Frank MacInnis, CEO of Norwalk, Conn.-based EMCOR Group Inc., told Bloomberg News. “That speaks to the overall health of both the domestic economy and the remarkable strength of the world economy.”
A separate report today from the Census Burea showed that U.S.new-home sales also rebounded in July. (READ MORE)
Additional information, including the Advance Report on Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories and Orders (M3), is available from the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of the Census, Manufacturing and Construction Division, at www.census.gov/m3.
