Durable Goods Rise in April on Defense Orders

By Dean Seal

Orders for long-lasting goods rose again in April, boosted by activity in the defense sector.

New orders for products meant to last at least three years, including appliances, computers, cars and other manufactured goods, increased 1.1% in April from the prior month to a seasonally adjusted $283 billion, the Commerce Department said Friday.

That was the second consecutive month of order growth after a revised 3.3% increase in March. Orders ticked down in the first two months of the year. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had forecast a 0.8% drop in April.

Excluding defense categories, new orders were down 0.6%.

Orders for defense aircraft shot up 32.7% in April from the prior month, according to the Commerce Department's report. Defense capital goods orders also were up by more than a third compared with March.

Orders for nondefense aircraft and parts meanwhile slid 8.3%. Overall capital goods orders were up 4.6%.

New orders for nondefense capital goods excluding aircraft - so-called core capital-goods, a closely watched proxy for business investment - were up 1.4% in April.

Write to Dean Seal at dean.seal@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 26, 2023 09:21 ET (13:21 GMT)

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