Durable Goods Orders Drop 16% in March
March was the 12th month of contraction in the last 14. And, it was the fastest rate of month-over-month rate of contraction since October 2009.
New orders for real durable goods totaled $237,313 million in March, which was down 15.9% from one year ago. March was the 12th month of contraction in the last 14. And, it was the fastest rate of month-over-month rate of contraction since October 2009.
The result was that the annual rate of change contracted 5.3%, which was the fastest rate of annual contraction since March 2016. The sharp deceleration in growth in consumer durable goods spending in March and likely in April means that durable goods new orders will continue to contract faster.
It’s important to note that non-defense aerospace orders in March were negative, meaning that there were more cancellations than there were new orders for commercial aircraft. In fact, non-defense aerospace new orders were so negative that they overwhelmed defense aerospace new orders. Therefore, total aerospace orders were negative. The annual rate of contraction in aerospace orders was near 50% in March
Accelerating Growth: appliances
Decelerating Growth:
Accelerating Contraction: aerospace, computers/electronics, durable goods, HVAC, motor vehicle/parts, off-road/construction machinery, power generation, primary metals, ship/boat building, total capital goods
Decelerating Contraction: construction materials, fabricated metal products, machinery/equipment, oil/gas-field/mining machinery