More fallout from new orders came this month. Manufacturers’ new orders for durable goods fell the most since January 2009, the heart of the Great Recession. A late 2011 boost from temporary stimulus measures in the tax code is obscuring a trend of eight months of weakness in new orders.
Particularly hard hit were new orders for nondefense capital goods, down 10.5%. Its subcomponent, new orders for nondefense capital goods excluding aircraft parts, fell by 0.8%. The measure is a component of the Conference Board’s Leading Economic Index. The fall could be a sign of future Leading Indicator weakness. There is an uneasy trend developing on the chart for new orders of non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft.
