US: Durable goods orders declined by 1.6% in February vs -1.8% expected

Eren Sengezer FXStreet

The data published by the U.S. Census Bureau revealed that durable goods orders in February contracted by 1.6% and came in better than the market expectation for a decline of 1.8%. The market reaction to this reading was relatively muted and the US Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was last up 0.04% on the day at 97.39.

Key takeaways from the press release

Excluding transportation, new orders increased 0.1 percent.
Excluding defense, new orders decreased 1.9 percent.
Transportation equipment, also down following three consecutive monthly increases, drove the decrease, $4.3 billion or 4.8 percent to $86.0 billion.
Shipments of manufactured durable goods in February, up three of the last four months, increased $0.5 billion or 0.2 percent to $258.6 billion.

Author

Eren Sengezer

FXStreet

As an economist at heart, Eren Sengezer specializes in the assessment of the short-term and long-term impacts of macroeconomic data, central bank policies and political developments on financial assets.

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