- by New Deal democrat
Manufacturers' new orders for durable goods were reported up +4.9% by the Census Bureau, significantly higher than expectations. Last month's initially reported decline of -2.5% was halved to -1.3%.
Beyond simply being one month of particularly good data, manufacturers' new orders are a component of the Leading Economic Indicators, and are now decisively higher than at any point since the end of last year. This also completes the third part of an important trifecta of LEI indicators -- more on that tomorrow.
For those asking, "What will the economic recovery build upon?" we have at least part of our answer. It will be done the old-fashioned way, via manufacturing.
