Economy

June Durable Goods Surprise to the Upside Again

July 29, 2022

New orders for US manufactured durable goods rose unexpectedly in June after a surprising increase the month prior. June’s gain was boosted by a surge in defense aircraft as well as a sustained demand for equipment.

Last month’s bookings for durable goods were up 1.9% following a 0.8% gain a month earlier, according to the Commerce Department. Figures are not adjusted for inflation.

Orders for fighter jets and other military planes jumped 81%, countering a 2.1% decline in commercial airplanes.

The value of core capital goods orders – a proxy for investment in equipment that excludes aircraft and non-defense capital goods – expanded by 0.5% for a second straight month in June. Those orders were up 10.5% year-on-year (YoY) last month.

Core capital goods shipments, a figure that is used to help calculate equipment investment in the government’s gross domestic product report, rose 0.7% in June following a 1.0% gain the prior month.

The broad-based gain in durable goods included strong booking for motor vehicles, computers and electronic products, and fabricated metals. But orders for primary metals, machinery, and communications equipment fell.

The report also indicated that unfilled orders for all durable goods rose 0.7%. Inventories increased 0.4%.

Click here more detail on the June advance report from the US Census Bureau on durable goods manufacturers’ shipments, inventories, and orders. See also Figure 1 below.

DurableGoods Jun22

Revised and Recently Benchmarked May Data

Revised seasonally adjusted May figures for all manufacturing industries were: new orders, $544.4 billion (revised from $543.4 billion); shipments, $545.7 billion (revised from $544.4 billion); unfilled orders, $1,109.7 billion (revised from $1,110.0 billion) and total inventories, $798.3 billion (revised from $797.9 billion).

By David Schollaert, David@SteelMarketUpdate.com

David Schollaert

David Schollaert is deputy editor-in-chief for Steel Market Update. David joined SMU after more than a decade in the metals and mining industry in a myriad of different roles. Much of his early experience and expertise were within the coverage and analysis of steel-making raw materials and served previously as senior editor of the CRU Prices Service. Most recently, however, before his return to market analysis, David held roles as a metals buyer and an operations manager for raw material suppliers. He can be contacted at david@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-720-1008.