Economy
April 25, 2016
Durable Goods Orders Disappoint in March
Written by Sandy Williams
Durable Goods orders increased 0.8 percent to $230.7 billion in March, according to the Commerce Department. March’s increase is the second one in the past three months and follows a 3.1 percent decrease in February and a 4.3 increase in January. The increase fell below economist consensus of 1.7- 1.9 percent.
A surge in military equipment demand led the increase as orders for defense capital goods increased 48.4 percent from February. Excluding defense, new orders decreased 1.0 percent. Transportation equipment, a volatile component of the new orders index, was up 2.9 percent. Excluding transportation new orders decreased 2 percent.
