A Surprise in Durable Goods

The Commerce Department released the most recent data on the highly volatile Durable Goods Report.  The April reading showed a gain of +2.9% versus a Dow Jones estimate of only +2.2% expected.  The devil is always in the details.  On an ex-Defense basis, Durables rose by +3.4%; and on an ex-Transportation basis Durable Goods FELL by 1.0%.

This generated a seasonally adjusted figure of $193.9 billion for the month of April, although airlines affected the numbers.  Non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft fell by 2.4%, although that is on the heels of gains in both February and March.

The reading for March’s Durable Goods Orders was also revised To Unchanged versus a prior reading of -0.6%.

As a reminder, this is one of the more volatile reports of the economy because it has enough break-out sectors included that are not necessarily tied to each other.

JON C. OGG