In February, new orders for basic American capital goods rebounded more than anticipated after two straight monthly dives, while shipments tacked on that could tame hopes for a steep slowdown in business spending on equipment for the first quarter.
As a matter of fact, the Commerce Department’s report on Friday could help market experts to lift their economic surge estimates for the first three months of 2018. The previous week they were heavily criticized after data disclosed that in February retail sales went down for the third month in a row.
On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve pictured an upbeat picture of the American economy when it had interest rates lifted and projected at least two more hikes for 2018.
Orders for non-defense capital goods without aircraft tacked on 1.8% in February. It happened to be the greatest ascend for five months and it showed up after a downwardly updated 0.4% slump in January.
Market experts surveyed by Reuters had projected those orders tacking on only 0.8% in February after a previously posted 0.3% dive in January. As for core capital goods orders, they gained 7.4% on a year-on-year basis.
In February, shipments of core capital goods inched up 1.4%, which is the most impressive leap since December 2016, after an upwardly updated 0.1% jump in January. As a rule, core capital goods shipments are employed for calculating equipment spending in the government’s GDP measurement.
They were previously posted to have dived 0.1% in January. Additionally, business spending on equipment surged last year because businesses anticipated a huge tumble in the corporate income tax rate.
Prices of American Treasuries appeared to be mixed while American stock index futures were mostly flat.
Besides this, in February, orders for machinery inched up 1.6%.
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