Orders For Durable Goods Rebound In June

The Commerce Department reported that orders for Durable Goods (items expected to last longer than a year) rose +0.7% during the month of June which was above the consensus expectations for an increase of +0.5%. The advance was attributed mainly to a sharp increase in the Pentagon's demand for military aircraft. The June reading was well above May's revised reading of -1.0% (from -0.9%). Prior readings for comparison: April: +0.8%, Mar: +3.6%, Feb: +2.1%, Jan: -1.3%, Dec: -5.3%, Nov: +2.6%, Oct: -0.7%, Sept: +4.1% August: +0.1%, July: -8.1% Jun: +3.9%, May: +5.2%, Apr: +3.5%, Mar: -5.9%, Feb: +4.3%, Jan 2013: -3.8%. When you strip out the volatile data for transportation, orders rose by +0.8% which was above the consensus for +0.7% and represents a rebound from last month's unrevised level of -0.1%. Prior readings for comparison: April: +0.8%, Mar: +2.9%, Feb: +0.1%, Jan: +0.9%, Dec: -1.9%, Nov: +0.1%, Oct: +0.7%, Sept: +0.2%, August: -0.4%, July: -0.5%, June: +0.1%, May: +1.0%, Apr: +1.7%, Mar: -1.7%, Feb: -1.7%, Jan 2013: +2.9%. The proxy for capital investment also rose in June, coming in at +1.4% versus the -1.2% seen in May (April -1.1%). Note that this is a very volatile data series and each report is subject to significant revisions.