Economy
Durable Goods Rise for Second Straight Month in April
May 30, 2023
New orders for manufactured durable goods increased for the second consecutive month in April, rising 1.1% from the previous month to $283.0 billion, according to the US Census Bureau.
This follows a 3.3% month-over-month (MoM) gain in March, according to Census data.
The bureau said transportation equipment, also up for a second straight month, drove the increase, rising 3.7% MoM to $97.6 billion.
Excluding transportation—which includes big-ticket, non-steel-intensive items such as aircraft—new orders decreased 0.2%, while new orders excluding defense decreased 0.6%, Census data showed.
New orders for primary metals slipped 0.5% to a seasonally adjusted $26.7 billion in April from March. New orders for fabricated metal products remained flat at $35.3 billion in the same comparison.
Click here for more detail on the April advance report from the US Census Bureau on durable goods manufacturers’ shipments, inventories, and orders. See also Figure 1 below.
By Ethan Bernard, ethan@steelmarketupdate.com
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