Orders for durable goods went up by 1.4% in February, beating expectations and indicating possible signs of recovery in the manufacturing industry. Durable goods are defined as a variety of items, whether kitchen appliances or vehicles, that are meant to last more than three years.
The increase recoups some of the losses felt in January, when ordering fell 6.9%. Reuters polled economists that believes that durable goods orders would increase by just 1.1%.
“The data suggest that business equipment investment is beginning to recover, and with corporate bond yields likely to fall a little further over the coming months while manufacturing activity appears to be picking up again, we suspect that recovery has further to run,” said Andrew Hunter, deputy chief U.S. economist at Capital Economics.
Other segments showed improvement, too. After dropping 18.3% in January, transportation orders increased by 3.3%, with a 24.6% rise in non-military orders, while orders of primary metals and machinery went up 1.4% and 1.9%, respectively.
Earlier this month, a survey from the Institute for Supply Chain Management found that manufacturers reported optimism about sales and business conditions in March. However, not all segments increased—computer and electronic product orders decreased by 1.4% and orders for electrical equipment, appliances and components went down 1.5%.
