New orders for durable goods manufactured in the U.S. dropped by the largest amount in six months to open the second quarter on a steep decline in transportation bookings, according to Reuters. On Wednesday the Commerce Department reported that durable goods orders dropped 3.6% in April, which was a larger drop than the 2.2% fall that economists had expected. The loss nearly wipes out the 4.4% increase recorded in March as orders in aircraft and motor vehicles dropped 30% and 4.5%, respectively.
Excluding the more volatile transportation bookings, durable goods orders were still down 1.5%, surprising economists after a forecast for a 0.5% increase. The same segment increased by 2.5% in March, with the latest data showing weakness in April across all sub-categories except electronic products. Fred Dickson of D.A. Davidson & Co. said the data was “modestly disappointing,” but continued to say that it is “not indicative of an economic downturn, just kind of paints a picture that the economy is in a momentary lull.”