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Durable Goods Orders: Feb Jan !Consensus: ! Total Orders: 0.5% 3.9%r ! +0.7% ! Ex-Transportation: 0.9% -0.6% !Actual: ! Ex-Defense 1.6% 1.7% +0.5% ! ======================================================= By Darrell A. Hughes and Jeff Bater Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- Durable-goods orders rose a third straight month in February, while a sign of capital spending climbed, indicating U.S. businesses have confidence in the economic recovery.
Manufacturers' orders for goods designed to last at least three years increased 0.5%, to a seasonally adjusted $178.12 billion, the Commerce Department said Wednesday.
If not for the defense sector, durables would have gone up much higher. Defense-related capital goods orders fell 4.5%. Excluding defense, all other durables goods rose 1.6% in February, after climbing 1.7% during January.
Overall January durables surged ahead 3.9%, revised from a previously reported 2.6% increase. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast durables would climb 0.7% in February.
Orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft increased by 1.1% last month. The orders are seen as a barometer of capital spending by businesses. Business spending on equipment and software has climbed significantly, Federal Reserve policymakers said last week in a statement on their latest meeting over interest rates and the economy.
Non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft shipments, used in calculating gross domestic product, increased 0.8%, a positive sign for the economy in the first quarter.
The 0.5% increase in overall durables last month marked the third climb in a row. Unlike some sectors of the economy, such as housing, factories are doing well. Manufacturing payrolls actually grew last month, while overall employment and construction jobs each fell, according to Labor Department data. The Institute for Supply Management trade group says manufacturing has grown seven months in a row.
A sign of future demand in the factory sector, unfilled manufacturers' orders, rose 0.4% in February, the second increase after a record 15 straight declines, Wednesday's durables data showed.
Manufacturers' inventories of durable goods rose 0.3%. Overall durable-goods shipments of manufacturers fell 0.6% last month.
Orders for transportation-related goods fell 0.7%, brought down by cars and military airplanes. All other durable goods orders, excluding transportation, climbed 0.9%.
Capital goods orders increased 3.6% in February. Non-defense capital goods - items meant to last 10 years or longer - rose 5.2%.
The Commerce Department's durable goods orders report can be found at http://www.census.gov/manufacturing/m3/adv/pdf/durgd.pdf.
Copyright 2009 Dow Jones Newswires
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