EmailFactory orders increased 0.7% in May after declining a negatively revised 0.7% (from 0.6%) in April. The Briefing.com consensus expected factory orders to increase 0.4% Durable goods orders increased 1.3%, up from 1.1% in the advance released and well above the 0.3% decline in April.
Nondurable goods orders increased 0.2% in May after falling 1.0% in April. Surprisingly, the drop in crude oil prices had a minimal effect on petroleum orders, which were flat after falling 3.6% in April. Business investment demand remained strong as orders of nondefense capital goods excluding aircraft were revised up from 1.6% in the advance release to 2.1% in May. Shipments of these goods, which factor directly into GDP, were revised up to 0.6% from 0.4% growth in the advance release. That will cause us to revise our second quarter GDP forecast higher.
