According to durable goods order statistics for March released by the U.S. Department of Commerce on the 24th, orders for core capital goods (non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft), which are a leading indicator of private capital investment, increased by 0.2% from the previous month. This was in line with economists’ forecasts compiled by Reuters. Photographed in April 2023 (2024 Reuters/Caitlin Ochs)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – According to durable goods order statistics for March released by the U.S. Department of Commerce on the 24th, orders for core capital goods (non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft), which are a leading indicator of private capital investment, have declined. The increase was 0.2% from the previous month, in line with economists’ forecasts compiled by Reuters.
However, the figure for February has been revised downward from 0.7% to 0.4%. This suggests that new capital investment by companies is likely to have slowed in the first quarter.
Orders for non-defense capital goods surged to 5.4% in March. Shipments decreased by 1.5%. In February, it increased by 2.4%.
Shipments of core capital goods in March increased by 0.2%. In February, it was down 0.6%.
Conrad Dequadros, senior economic advisor at Breen Capital, said: “[This statistic]should not have a material impact on the first quarter U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate, which will be released tomorrow.” This means that the weakness in the manufacturing industry does not appear to be getting any worse, but there are also no signs of recovery.
Looking at orders by item, orders for transportation equipment as a whole increased by 7.7%. Last month, it increased by 1.8%.
Commercial aircraft increased by 30.6%. It increased by 15.6% in the previous month as well.
Computers and electronic products increased by 0.8%, electrical machinery, home appliances and parts increased by 0.1%, and processed metals increased by 0.2%.
On the other hand, primary metals decreased by 0.5%. Shipments of durable goods remained flat from the previous month. The backlog increased by 0.4%.
Since March 2022, the US Federal Reserve (Fed) has raised interest rates by a cumulative 525 basis points (bp) in an effort to curb inflation, and corporate capital investment has slowed.
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