US durable goods orders jump in February, but details weaker
Orders for goods meant to last more than three years jumped in February on the back of a large increase in those for civilian aircraft.
Total durable goods orders grew 1.7% month-on-month to reach $235.4bn (consensus: 1.1%), according to the Department of Commerce, whereas economists had penciled in an increase of 1.1%.
Excluding the transportation sector, new orders were up by 0.4% on the month (consensus: 0.5%) and if defence was excluded then by 2.1%.
A 47.6% rise on the month in non-defence aircraft and parts to $12.68bn played a large part behind last month's growth.
Orders for primary metals increased by 2.3% on the month to $18.89bn, while those for electrical equipment were up by 2.2% to $9.8bn.
However, defence orders fell by 8.3%.
Capital goods orders, excluding those for defence and aircraft dipped 0.1% on the month to $64.64bn (consensus: 0.6%).
"Core capital goods orders fell 0.1% m/m (previous: 0.1% m/m), while core capital goods shipments rose a modest 0.1% m/m. The weakness in core orders and shipments is a concrete sign that the surge is business sentiment is not pulling activity data higher," said Blerina Uruci and Rob Martin at Barclays Research.
Following Friday's data, Barclays said its tracking estimate for the rate of growth of gross domestic product in the first quarter slipped from 1.3% to 1.2%.