Updated: 29-Apr-26 09:31 ET
Highlights
- Durable goods orders increased 0.8% month-over-month in March (Briefing.com consensus: 0.5%) following an upwardly revised 1.2% decline (from -1.4%) in February.
- Excluding transportation, orders were up 0.9% month-over-month (Briefing.com consensus: 0.6%) following an upwardly revised 1.2% increase (from 0.8%) in February.
- New orders for primary metals increased 0.4% after rising 2.4% in February.
- New orders for fabricated metal products increased 0.2% after increasing 1.1% in February.
- New orders for machinery were up 0.8% after increasing 2.3% in February.
- New orders for computers and electronic equipment jumped 3.7% after increasing 1.3% in February.
- Transportation equipment orders increased 0.8% after declining 5.6% in February.
- The key takeaway from the report is that there was a big jump (+3.3%) in new orders for nondefense capital goods excluding aircraft. This is a proxy for business spending, and it is believed to reflect in part the pickup in capital expenditures for AI initiatives.
| Category | Mar | Feb | JAN | DEC | NOV |
| Total Durable Orders | 0.8% | -1.2% | -0.4% | -0.9% | 5.4% |
| Less Defense | -0.3% | -1.2% | 0.2% | -1.9% | 6.6% |
| Less Transport | 0.9% | 1.2% | 0.4% | 1.2% | 0.4% |
| Transportation | 0.8% | -5.6% | -1.9% | -4.6% | 15.2% |
| Capital Goods | 1.7% | -6.5% | -3.0% | -3.2% | 15.4% |
| Nondefense | -1.2% | -7.9% | -0.9% | -6.7% | 20.4% |
| Nondefense/nonaircarft (core cap gds) | 3.3% | 1.6% | -0.3% | 0.8% | 0.9% |
| Defense Cap Goods | 18.0% | 2.3% | -14.1% | 21.6% | -10.7% |
