Durable goods orders beat expectations
Headline orders rose 3.4%, while orders excluding transportation and defense orders rose 0.8%.
Economists had estimated that headline durable goods orders rose 3.2% in June month-over-month, and climbed 0.5% excluding transportation and defense orders, according to Bloomberg.
In May, headline durable goods orders fell 1.8%, more than expected. "Core" orders, which exclude the more volatile components, rose 0.4% to slightly beat expectations.
In a preview of the economic data this week, Wells Fargo's John Silvia wrote: "New orders for durable goods have been tepid over the first half of the year as a strong dollar has weighed on exports and low oil prices have sapped demand for products related to energy investment. Part of the softness has also been due to weakness in aircraft orders, but orders for nondefense capital goods ex-aircraft also have fallen in four out of the past five months and are 2.1 percent lower than a year earlier."
"We expect to see some modest bounce-back in durable goods orders for June. Boeing has already reported a jump in aircraft orders for the month, but orders outside of the transportation sector are also likely to have improved."