Durable Goods Orders Top Estimates

- Durable Goods Orders for April fell .5% versus estimates of a 1.5% decline and a .3% fall in March.

- Durables Ex Transports for April rose 2.5% versus estimates of a .5% decline and an upwardly revised 1.7% increase in March.

BOTTOM LINE: Orders for US durable goods excluding cars and planes unexpectedly rose in April, signaling that international customers are helping factories ride out the economic slowdown, Bloomberg reported. Excluding transportation orders, durable goods orders jumped 2.5%, the most since July of last year. A surge in demand for electrical equipment and appliances, along with gains in metals and machinery, led the increase. Orders for electrical equipment soared a record 28% in April. Bookings for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, a gauge of future business investment, jumped 4.2%, the most this year. Shipments of those goods, which are used to compute GDP, rose .5%. I expect Durable Goods Orders to continue to trend higher over the coming months on an end to the American Axle strike, strong international purchases, falling commodity prices and inventory rebuilding as the effects of the fiscal/monetary stimuli take hold.