Durable-Goods Orders Rise for Fourth Straight Month
September 25 2020 - 9:25AM
Dow Jones News
By Amara Omeokwe
Orders for long-lasting factory goods increased for the fourth
consecutive month in August, a sign of the manufacturing industry's
continued recovery from coronavirus pandemic-related
disruptions.
New orders for durable goods--products designed to last at least
three years--rose 0.4% in August compared with July, the Commerce
Department said Friday. The August increase followed bigger
advances from earlier in the summer, when orders rebounded
following a collapse in demand from early in the pandemic.
Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had forecast a
1.8% increase.
New orders for nondefense capital goods excluding aircraft, a
closely watched proxy for business investment, also rose last
month, by 1.8%.
Excluding defense, orders were up 0.7% in August. Meanwhile,
orders for computers and electronic products, machinery and
transportation equipment all rose solidly in August, helping drive
the overall gain in orders.
The pace of durable goods orders can signal demand for
manufactured products and the volume of forthcoming factory
production. Orders jumped 11.7% in July, following steep declines
in March and April.
Recent indicators have suggested the manufacturing industry is
bouncing back from those disruptions. Surveys from data providers
IHS Markit and the Institute for Supply Management, for example,
showed factory activity grew in August, with gains in output and
improvements in employment levels. A preliminary measure of
manufacturing activity in September also accelerated, according to
IHS Markit.
Write to Amara Omeokwe at amara.omeokwe@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 25, 2020 09:10 ET (13:10 GMT)
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