US Durable Goods Orders Rise in April, Beating Market Expectations

By Le Figaro with AFP

Published on 26/05/2023 at 15:19update on 05/26/2023 at 15:24

Durable goods orders continued to rise in April in the United States, for the second consecutive month, beating market expectations thanks to transport equipment, according to data released Friday by the Department of Commerce. The total amount of orders amounted to 283 billion dollars, or 1.1% better than in March, a month for which the data was also revised slightly upwards (3.3% instead of 3.2% initially announced).

April orders were well ahead of analysts’ expectations, which had forecast a 1% drop, according to the consensus published by briefing.com. Excluding transport, whose activity is strongly linked to the number of aircraft ordered and delivered from one month to the next, the trend is on the other hand downward, by 0.2%, slightly more marked than the forecasts of the analysts (-0.1%).

If we exclude this time military orders, which are also very cyclical, the trend is down more markedly, by 0.6%. The transport sector recorded a 3.7% increase in its orders, mainly under the effect of military orders (+32.7%).

On the deliveries side, the overall trend is on the other hand downward, by 0.7%, under the effect of a decline in the transport sector which accounts for almost all of the decrease observed (1.6 billion out of the two billion overall drop). Business inventories are on their side up by 1%, while unrealized orders are also continuing to increase by 0.8%, the fourth month of increase since the beginning of the year.