U.S. February durable goods orders increased 2.2%, mainly due to the strong market demand for these products. U.S. durable goods orders have realized growth for four months over the past five months.
The analysts polled by MarketWatch projected U.S. February durable goods orders would grow by 2.9%; heavy machinery orders would increase by 5.7%; commercial aircrafts orders would grow by 6%; computer and automotive orders would rise 2.7% and 1.6% respectively; base metals orders would add by 1.3%. In addition, the MarketWatch’s data also show that defense orders remain relatively strong momentum.
Excluding the highly volatile transportation industry orders with an increase of 1.6% and the defense orders with an increase of 1.7%, the core orders rose 1.2%.
U.S. durable goods orders declined in January this year and this after-adjusted figure decreased from the previous 3.7% to 3.6%.