Durable Goods Orders Off 10.2% on Lower Aircraft O
Washington, DC, February 24, 2006--Durable goods orders dropped 10.2% in January as aircraft orders dried up after three months of strength, the Commerce Department reported Friday.
The decline was the largest since July 2000 and far exceeded the 2.5% drop expected by economists.
Aircraft orders fell 68.2% in January after averaging more than three times the normal level from October through December.
Leaving out transportation, durable goods orders rose 0.6 percent, slightly more than economists had expected, for the third straight monthly gain for the number.
Economists had forecast a decline a much smaller 1 percent, after Boeing orders slowed to a three-month low of 39 units in January, down from 204 in December. Wall Street had pegged orders to rise 0.5 percent excluding transportation.
December orders were revised up to a 2.5 percent increase from the originally reported 1.3 percent advance.
The steep drop in January was driven by declines in capital goods and transportation equipment orders.
Capital goods orders tumbled 23.1 percent.
New orders for transportation equipment slid 31.2 percent, as motor vehicles and parts orders fell 3.3 percent and defense aircraft and parts fell 22 percent.
Non-defense aircraft and parts orders tumbled 68.2 percent, the biggest drop since an 80.1 percent decline in December 1998, the department said.
Unfilled orders, which can signal future strength of factory production, fell 0.8 percent, the largest decline since a decline of 1.2 percent in October 2002.
