US Durable Goods Orders Disappoint In April

Amid a slew of dismal US macro data, analysts expected durable goods orders to continue to rise in preliminary April data and it did but less than expected. US Durable Goods Orders rose 0.4% MoM, less than the +0.6% MoM expected and a notable slowdown from March’s +1.1% MoM (which was also revised down to a 0.6% MoM rise). Orders remain up 9.9% YoY…

Source: Bloomberg

Ex-Autos were even worse, with orders rising just 0.3% MoM (below the +0.6% MoM expectation).

The value of core capital goods orders, a proxy for investment in equipment that excludes aircraft and military hardware, climbed 0.3% (less than the +0.5% MoM expectation) after a 1.1% gain a month earlier.

Shipments were better than expected, up 0.8% MoM as the supply chain bottlenecks catch up.

As Bloomberg notes, the figures suggest companies are adhering to capital expenditures plans as they seek to enhance productivity to ease the burden of high inflation and a tight labor market. It’s less clear, however, whether businesses later this year will reconsider the current pace of investment in the face of higher interest rates and an anticipated cooling of economic activity.

Another missed US macro data point though.