Durable Goods New Orders Contract Slightly in April

(Positive) Real durable goods new orders in April 2017 were $221,124 million. Compared with one year ago, durable goods new orders contracted 0.9 percent, which was the first month of contraction in 2017. While data from previous month's was revised lower, the annual rate of change contracted 1.0 percent, which was the slowest rate of contraction since new orders began contracting in July 2015. 

For the second time in three months, motor vehicle and parts orders contracted more than 4.5 percent compared with one year ago. The annual rate of change contracted between 1.5 and 1.7 percent since February.

Aerospace orders decreased 20.2 percent in April compared with one year ago. This was after two months of more than 32 percent growth. The annual rate of contraction accelerated to more than 15 percent.

Accelerating Growth: construction materials, fabricated metal products, HVAC, primary metals, ship/boat building

Decelerating Growth: electronics/computers/electronics

Decelerating Contraction: appliances, durable goods, machinery/equipment, oil/gas-field/mining machinery, off-road/construction machinery, power generation 

Accelerating Contraction: aerospace, motor vehicle/parts, total capital goods