Economy
July Durable Goods Stall, Little Changed From June
Written by David Schollaert
August 25, 2022
New orders for US manufactured durable goods stalled in July, at a seasonally adjusted $273.5 billion last month, virtually mirroring the month prior. But a pullback on orders for long-lasting goods in July might reflect a cooling in demand amid other signs of a slowing US economy.
Last month’s bookings for durable goods were down roughly 0.04% or less than $0.1 billion month-on-month (MoM) – virtually unchanged – following a 2.2% gain a month earlier, according to the Commerce Department. Figures are not adjusted for inflation.
Excluding defense, new orders were up 1.2%, as companies pulled back on orders for big-ticket items in July. The result, some economic forecasts suggest, adds to signs manufacturing demand is cooling.
The value of core capital goods orders – a proxy for investment in equipment that excludes aircraft and non-defense capital goods – expanded by 0.3%. The result was slightly improved from expected gains of 0.2%.
Non-defense orders, excluding aircraft, were up 0.4% versus a 0.9% gain the month prior. The result in July was slightly better than forecasted gains of 0.3%.
Shipments of manufactured durable goods, up 14 of the last 15 months, rose 0.4% to $270.5 billion. That’s after a 0.3% increase in June. Transportation equipment, up nine of the last 10 months, drove the increase, rising 1.1% to $86.3 billion.
Click here more detail on the June advance report from the US Census Bureau on durable goods manufacturers’ shipments, inventories, and orders. See also Figure 1 below.
Revised and Recently Benchmarked June Data
Revised seasonally adjusted June figures for all manufacturing industries were: new orders, $554.3 billion (revised from $555.2 billion); shipments, $550.3 billion (revised from $551.9 billion); unfilled orders, $1,118.7 billion (revised from $1,118.0 billion) and total inventories, $801.5 billion (unchanged from $801.5 billion).
By David Schollaert, David@SteelMarketUpdate.com
David Schollaert
Read more from David SchollaertLatest in Economy
Durable goods orders rise again in February
Transportation equipment led the increase, rising 1.5% to $98.3 billion.
Consumer confidence falls for fourth consecutive month
People remain concerned about inflation, trade policies, and tariffs.
Housing starts ticked up in February
Single-family starts last month hit a rate of 1.10 million, a month-over-month increase of 11.4%, census data shows.
Architecture billings continued to slide in February
The ABI is a leading indicator for near-term nonresidential construction activity and projects business conditions ~9-12 months down the road (the typical lead time between architecture billings and construction spending).
New York state manufacturing activity tumbles in March
After a modest recovery in February, business activity in New York state’s manufacturing sector declined sharply in March, according to the latest Empire State Manufacturing Survey from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.