U.S. durable goods rise modestly in January, imply slower manufacturing activity

The U.S. durable goods data for January released today continues to imply slower manufacturing activity. The headline durable goods order rose 0.4 percent in the month. However, looking through the often volatile gain from transportation, orders were down 0.1 percent. After dropping for four out of five months, core capital goods orders rose 0.8 percent.

The three-month annualized rate of this measure, however, continues to be soft, implying a more modest contribution to spending in the first quarter. The survey data for manufactured goods orders have been mixed. However, the hard data released today on durable orders give some comfort after the recent volatile readings of the new orders component of the ISM manufacturing index.

“Core capital goods shipments, which feed into GDP, were also up 0.8 percent. This gain suggests that while we expect a slower pace of spending in the first quarter, growth should remain stable”, said Wells Fargo in a research report.

At 17:00 GMT the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of US Dollar was slightly bearish at -59.0856 more details on FxWirePro's Currency Strength Index, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex