From Marketwatch:
Weakness in many categories of built-to-last products drove orders for new U.S.-made durable goods down by 1.0% in June, the second straight monthly decline and the biggest drop in 10 months, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday.Excluding a 2.4% decrease in transportation goods, orders fell 0.6%, the second decline in the past three months.
Business investment in the U.S. picked up in the second quarter, helping sustain the economic recovery, June data on durable goods showed today.Orders for non-military capital equipment excluding aircraft climbed 0.6 percent last month after jumping 4.6 percent in May, more than previously reported, figures from the Commerce Department showed in Washington. Sales of such gear, used in calculating gross domestic product, also rose.
“Business investment remains the bright spot in an otherwise dull economic outlook,” said Jay Feldman, an economist at Credit Suisse in New York. “Corporations have actually underinvested quite dramatically in recent years and, to some extent, we are catching up.”
Let's take a look at the data:
The YOY number is still positive, but has been moving sidways since the first of the year. The gray lines -- which represent the month to month data -- shows one strong month followed by a slower growth on either side.
This slowdown in durables goods orders is in line with the regional manufacturing surveys and the .1% increase in industrial production last month.
