Durable Goods Disappoint

Overall, this was a depresing number because it showed US corporations are not spending. Why should they? Resource utilization is low and many industries are experiencing excess capacity. No reason to increase capital spending until you see a real pick up in demand. From Dow Jones:

Durable-goods orders in September increased by 3.3% to a seasonally adjusted $199.16 billion, the Commerce Department said Wednesday, the biggest rise since January. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires expected a 2.5% rise. But excluding transportation, orders for all other durables fell 0.8% last month.

Not including defense, durables orders rose 2.9%. New orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, a barometer of capital spending by businesses, fell 0.6%.

"Overall, these figures suggest that the industrial recovery is nearing extinction," said Capital Economics economist Paul Dales. "Without it, the overall economy is going to struggle."

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Black Swan Insights

Durable Goods Disappoint