Figures this afternoon showed that orders for US-made durable goods surged 6.1% in March, led by strong demand for airplanes, machinery and electronics.
The Commerce Department said the increase in new orders was the largest since May 2005 and far exceeded the 1.8% gain expected by economists. The big story in March was continued strength in orders for civilian aircraft, which increased 71% in March after a 60% increase in February.
Excluding the 14% rise in transportation goods, new orders rose 2.8% in March, the biggest gain since August. The department also revised upward its estimate of February durable goods orders to show a 3.4% increase, compared with the earlier report's 2.7%.
Separate figures showed that new US home sales rose by a surprisingly strong 13.8% in March to an annualised rate of 1.2 million units. The jump reversed the 10.9% decline in sales in February and was far stronger than the modest increase expected by economists.
Combined with a small increase reported in existing home sales on Tuesday, the report depicts a housing market much stronger than anyone had reason to believe.
