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The Department of Commerce is set to release its advance report on durable goods orders for March at 8:30 a.m. ET.Economists forecast that orders for things designed to last for three or more years increased by 1.3%, a third-straight monthly rise, according to Bloomberg.
Excluding volatile transportation orders, so-called core durable goods orders are estimated to rise 0.4%.
"The latest manufacturing sentiment data continue to point to a noticeable pickup in activity in the sector," said Deutsche Bank economists in a preview.
"In turn, this has positive implications for capital spending, which has been meaningfully depressed over the last couple of years due to the collapse in energy prices and weak global demand, among other factors. In fact, real nonresidential equipment spending (capex) subtracted nearly -20 basis points (bps) from annual growth last year, which was the first time that capex has been a drag on output since 2009, when the economy was still in recession during the first half of the year."