Monthly Durable/Core Durable Goods

Decembers Durable and Core Durable Goods order numbers were released today.  Durable Goods Orders are change in the total value of new purchase orders placed with manufacturers for durable goods.  It is considered a leading indicator of production as new orders will cause manufacturers to increase activity and potentially hiring to meet rising production orders.  Core Durable Goods Orders are Durable Goods excluding transportation items.  

Durable Goods forecasted number called for a +1.6%, but the actual headline number came in at -2.5%.  The Core Durable Goods forecasted number called for a 0.9%, but the actually headline number came in at 0.5%.  Both numbers are down from forecast and down from the previous forecast.  Transportation items doing better than everything other than transportation.  This does not look like an economic recovery for the month of January 2011.  We'll see when we see the jobs numbers in January.