EmailDurable orders demand surprised on the upside by increasing 1.1% in May after falling 0.2% in April. The Briefing.com consensus expected durable orders to increase 0.5% The gain, however, should not have been so shocking as Boeing (BA) already released strong aircraft order numbers for May.
That translated into a 2.7% increase in transportation orders, up from a 0.8% gain in April. Excluding transportation, durable orders rose 0.4% in May after declining 0.6% in April. The consensus expected these orders to increase 0.7%. Primary (-1.5%) and fabricated (-0.2%) metals demand both declined for the month. Business investment demand strengthened as orders of nondefense capital goods excluding aircraft increased a healthy 1.6% after contracting for the previous two months (-1.4% in April, -2.3% in March). Most of that gain came from a 4.1% increase in machinery demand. Computers and electronic product orders fell 0.9%. Shipments, which factor directly into GDP, rebounded and increased a moderate 0.4% in May after falling 1.5% in April.
