The U.S.
Commerce Department reported on Wednesday that the durable goods orders surged
2.6 per cent m-o-m in March, following a downwardly revised 0.7 per cent m-o-m advance
(+1.3 per cent m-o-m) in February. This marked the strongest monthly rise
in durable goods orders since November 2023 (+5.4 per cent).
Economists
had expected a 2.5 per cent m-o-m climb.
According to
the report, the March increase was due to gains in orders in 8 of 9 sectors,
led by transportation equipment (+7.7 per cent m-o-m), capital goods (+6.0 per
cent m-o-m) and manufacturing (+3.0 per cent m-o-m). Meanwhile, primary metals
(-0.5 per cent m-o-m) was the only sector that saw a decline in orders.
Orders for
durable goods excluding transportation increased 0.2 per cent m-o-m in March,
following a downwardly revised 0.1 per cent m-o-m uptick (from +0.5 per cent
m-o-m) in the previous month, marginally below economists’ forecast of a 0.3
per cent m-o-m gain.
Elsewhere,
orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, a closely watched
proxy for business spending plans, went up 0.2 per cent m-o-m last month after
a downwardly revised 0.4 per cent m-o-m advance (from +0.7 per cent m-o-m) in February.
Economists had predicted a 0.2 per
cent m-o-m increase in core capital goods orders for March.
On a y-o-y
basis, durable goods orders rose 0.3 per cent, while orders, excluding
transportation, soared 1.3 per cent.