U.S. durable goods orders sustain robust growth

In August 2024, new orders for manufactured durable goods in the U.S. showed little change, maintaining a remarkable revised surge of 9.8% from the previous month, marking the largest increase in four years. This outcome significantly contrasted with market predictions, which had forecasted a 2.6% decline.

This outcome challenged the rising pessimism surrounding U.S. manufacturing activity, indicating that the current slowdown could be temporary.

Orders increased for fabricated metal products (up 0.6% to $36.602 billion) and machinery (up 0.5% to $37.884 billion). Meanwhile, orders for transportation equipment experienced a slight decline of 0.8%, holding steady at $101.243 billion, following a significant 34.6% surge in July.

Excluding transportation, new orders increased by 0.5%, significantly surpassing expectations of a 0.1% rise. Conversely, orders decreased by 0.2% when defense goods were excluded