Business investment remained weak according to this mornings report on durable goods. Orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft–a measure of business investment–remained weak in February, falling 0.1% for the month.
However, shipments of those non-defense capital goods climbed 0.4% for the month. (It’s shipments that get factored into GDP so this 0.4% increase will help push first quarter GDP growth higher.)
However, factory orders fell by 0.5% in February. (Revisions to the January data pushed growth in factory orders in that month down to a negative 0.1% from the previously reported 0%. This was the fourth decline in the last five months in new orders for manufactured goods.
Factory orders declined 0.5% in February (Briefing.com consensus -0.6%) on the heels of a downwardly revised 0.0% reading (from +0.1%) in January. This marked the fourth decline in the last five months for new orders for manufactured goods. However, as in there case for non-defend capital goods, actual shipments of manufactured goods increased by 0.4% in February. That broke a string of four straight monthly declines in shipments.
