The U.S.
Commerce Department reported on Thursday that the durable goods orders jumped
9.2 per cent m-o-m in March, following an unrevised 0.9 per cent m-o-m advance in February. This marked the strongest monthly gain in durable
goods orders since July 2024 (+9.8 per cent).
Economists
had forecast a 2.0 per cent m-o-m increase.
According to
the report, the March surge was due to advances in orders in 7 of 9 sectors, led
by transportation equipment (+27.0 per cent m-o-m), capital goods (+24.3 per
cent m-o-m), and manufacturing (+12.2 per cent m-o-m). Meanwhile, computers and
electronic products (-1.2 per cent m-o-m) and electrical equipment, appliances,
and components (-0.5 per cent m-o-m) posted declines in orders.
Orders for
durable goods excluding transportation were unchanged m-o-m in March, following an unrevised 0.7 per cent m-o-m increase in the previous month, being below economists’ prediction of a 0.3 per cent m-o-m rise. This represented the worst performance in four
months.
Elsewhere,
orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, a closely watched
proxy for business spending plans, edged up 0.1 per cent m-o-m last month after
an unrevised 0.3 per cent m-o-m drop in February. Economists had anticipated a 0.2 per cent m-o-m increase in core
capital goods orders in March.
On
a y-o-y basis, durable goods orders climbed 5.5 per cent, while orders,
excluding transportation, rose 0.9 per cent.