Durables Goods – Oops
Courtesy of Karl Denninger at The Market Ticker
New orders for manufactured durable goods in January increased $5.2 billion or 3.0 percent to $175.7 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau announced today. This was the second consecutive monthly increase and followed a 1.9 percent December increase. Excluding transportation, new orders decreased 0.6 percent. Excluding defense, new orders increased 1.6 percent.
Uh huh.
Ex-transports it’s down.
Internals are not all that good either. Inventory on computers and electronics are being rapidly depleted – manufacturers (despite the BS claims of the media) are NOT replenishing stock. Take the so-called "pumping" and stuff it.
Not-seasonally-adjusted new orders and shipments are down significantly. Since most Christmas "stuff" is ordered and shipped in advance of December, this isn’t very positive at all.
Most important in the "new orders" column is the decrease in computers and electronic components. Remember, we keep hearing how wonderful it has been in earnings reports. Well, if that’s so, then explain the decrease from 31,577 to 23,146 in new orders month/over/month – that is almost a THIRTY PERCENT decrease!
Someone’s been lying.
It’s across the board too – not just computers, but also the subindex for communications equipment. NOT GOOD.
This is a leading indicator for hiring activity folks. I’ve harped on it before and will keep doing so. New employees = more computers and cell phones. If you’re not seeing it there (and you’re not) then the entire premise of "a recovering employment picture" is absolute crap.
Best-a-luck with that "recovery" thesis folks.
