U.S. factory goods orders fall sequentially in February

U.S. factory goods orders continued to see a mediocre growth track after the conclusion of the extended government shutdown at the end of January. Revisions to last week’s durable goods estimates were modest and still indicate towards a subdued growth trajectory for durable goods orders, noted Barclays in a research report.

On a sequential basis, the factory goods orders dropped 0.5 percent in February, after a downwardly revised estimate indicating flat orders in the prior month. The estimate for February was consistent with consensus expectations. As in last week’s advance durables release, the headline estimate was held back by a huge fall in the transportation category, mainly driven by a decline in orders in the volatile nondefense aircraft category.

Stripping transportation, orders rose 0.3 percent sequentially after having dropped 0.1 percent in the prior month, driven by a 0.6 percent sequential rise in the nondurables category. The picture for January durable goods orders was slightly weaker than last week’s advance print, with overall durable goods orders falling 1.6 percent sequentially and ex-transportation orders falling 0.1 percent sequentially.

The February estimates for orders of core capital goods remained the same at 0.1 percent sequentially, while the estimate of core capital goods shipments dropped 0.1 percentage point, to show a sequential fall of 0.1 percent.

At 17:00 GMT the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of US Dollar was slightly bearish at -52.9025 more details on FxWirePro's Currency Strength Index, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex