Durable goods orders up 4.9% in July
Orders for sturdy products rose last month by the largest amount in 2 years, as the producing sector reflected back from the depths of the recession. The Commerce Dep. asserted Wed. that orders for products predicted to last at least 3 years increased 4.9% in July, the 3rd rise during the past 4 months. Orders for June were revised up to a 1.3% drop, from a 2.2% decline.
Orders for transport hardware, which rose 18.4%, drove the general increase. Commercial aircraft orders, a volatile class, increased more than 200 percent after falling thirty percent in June. That was the 3rd straight increase, but slightly under analysts’ expectancies of a 0.9% rise. Orders for non-defense capital products excluding aircraft, a key measure of business investment, dropped 0.3%.
Some financial consultants anticipated that class to fall after rising in May and June. Economic gurus at Barclays Capital announced before the report that orders for Boeing aircraft rose in July to their highest level since last Aug. Car production improved last month as General Motors and Chrysler re-opened many plants that were shut in May and June while the corporations restructured and appeared from bankruptcy protection. The industry also profited from the govt’s Money for Clunkers program, which spurred thousands of folk to trade in older automobiles for new automobiles. Ford Motor earlier in the month declared its sales rose 2.4% in July from the same month last year, its first year-over-year increase since Nov 2007.
Chrysler Group posted a smaller year-over-year sales drop compared with the latest months, helped by clunkers deals. GM’s sales dropped 19.4%, a slower pace than earlier in the year.
