After reporting a sharp increase in new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods in the previous month, the Commerce Department released a report on Wednesday showing that durable goods orders came in roughly flat in November.
The report said durable goods orders were virtually unchanged in November after surging up by 2.9 percent in October. Orders had been expected to pull back by about 0.5 percent.
The unchanged reading came as a 0.4 percent increase in orders for transportation equipment was offset by notable decreases in orders for primary metals and machinery.
Excluding orders for transportation equipment, durable goods orders edged down by 0.1 percent in November after rising by 0.5 percent in October. Economists expected ex-transportation orders to be flat.
The Commerce Department said orders for primary metals and machinery tumbled by 2.7 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively.
On the other hand, orders for communications equipment surged up by 3.7 percent, and orders for electrical equipment, appliances, and components jumped by 2.6 percent.
The report also said orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, a closely watched indicator of capital spending, fell by 0.4 percent in November after climbing by a downwardly revised 0.6 percent in October.
Paul Ashworth, Chief U.S. Economist at Capital Economics, said, “As a result, the three-month-on-three-month annualized growth rate dropped to -1.9% from -0.1%.”
“In short, unless we see a big rebound in December or upward revisions, it appears that investment in equipment contracted in the fourth quarter,” he added.
Shipments in the same category also dropped by 0.5 percent in November after slumping by 1.0 percent in the previous month.
The material has been provided by InstaForex Company – www.instaforex.com