WASHINGTON (Reuters) – New orders for U.S.-made key capital goods rose to a maximum in just two years in June and shipments accelerated, but profits were likely insufficient for the internal collapse in business investment and economic activity since the Great Depression at the time quarter due to the COVID-19 crisis.
The production improvement reported Monday through the Commerce Department driven through a repressed call to continue reopening businesses. The fledgling recovery is threatened by the resurgence of new cases of coronavirus, which has forced some governments in the worst-affected areas of the South and West to re-close businesses or avoid reopening.
“Sugar fever due to reopening has now declined and a resurgence of national coronavirus cases, along with very low demand, chain-of-origin disruptions, traditionally low oil costs and high degrees of uncertainty, will weigh heavily on business investment,” Said Oren Klachkin. Senior American Economist at Oxford Economics in New York.
Orders for non-defense-related aircraft and capital goods, a well-observed indicator of corporate spending plans, increased by 3.3% last month, Commerce said. This is the largest accumulation in so-called capital goods orders since July 2018 and continues to accumulate 1.6% in May.
Orders for key capital goods remained 3.2% below their pre-stay level. Last month’s orders were increased through orders for machinery, manufactured metals and number one metals. Orders for electrical equipment, appliances and spare parts rose 1.2%, because staff installed home offices.
Economists surveyed through Reuters had forecast a 2.3% increase in capital goods orders in June. Orders for key capital goods fell by 2.3% year-on-year in June.
Deliveries of key capital goods increased by 3.4% last month, the highest gain since November 2013. Shipments of key capital goods are used to calculate capital expenditures as a measure of the government’s gross domestic product. They rose 1.6% in May and remain 3% below their February level.
Economists expect business spending on gadgets to contract at an annualized rate of 36% this quarter. The expected record drop would result in the fifth consecutive quarterly decline in overall business investment.
According to a Reuters survey of economists, GDP collapsed at a rate of 34.1% in the last quarter, which would be the biggest contraction in production since the government began to maintain record levels in 1947. The economy contracted at a rate of 5.0% in the january to March quarter, the largest since the 2007-2009 recession.
The government will unveil its second-quarter GDP outlook on Thursday. The closure of non-essential businesses in mid-March to stem the spread of the coronavirus halted the economy, and the peak effects occurred in April.
Wall Street’s actions rose amid hopes of more stimulus and a conciliatory signal from the Fed to revive a suffering national economy. Fed officials are scheduled to meet Tuesday for a normal two-day political meeting. The dollar fell in front of a basket of coins. The U.S. Treasury has gone up.
“While we doubt that the economy is on the verge of additional contraction, we expect the speed of recovery at this time of year to be much slower and with more bumps,” said Michael Pearce, senior American economist at Capital Economics in New York. . Training
Orders for durable goods, from toasters to aircraft expected to last 3 years or more, rose 7.3% in June after a 15.1% rebound in May.
Orders for durable goods were driven by strong demand for automobiles, accelerating to 85.7% after expanding to 28.8% in May. This offset a 462.3% reduction in civil jet orders, resulting in a 20% increase in orders for shipping aircraft. Motor cars have a higher weighting in the shipping category. Orders for shipping devices increased by 78.9% in May.
Boeing (BA. N) reported an aircraft order last month after receiving nine in May, according to data posted on its website. The aircraft manufacturer said this month that consumers canceled orders for 355 of its 737 MAX in the first part of 2020, because the impact of the aircraft’s grounding and the coronavirus crisis are greater for the airline industry.
Boeing’s best-selling product has been suspended since March 2019 after two accidents in Indonesia and Ethiopia.
The accumulation of orders for fundamental and durable goods last month reflected recent innovations in regional trade. But the road to recovery in the productive sector, which accounts for 11% of the economy, will be long.
Orders for durable goods in the e-book fell 1.4% in June after remaining unchanged in May. They rise to 0.1% for fundamental capital goods, corresponding to the May gains. Durable goods inventories rose 0.1%, while inventories of capital goods decreased by 0.2%.
“The production industry remains exposed to weak demand, which will have an effect on investment and hiring decisions in the future,” said Rubeela Farooqi, a leading U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics in White Plains, New York.
Reporting through Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Alex Richardson and Andrea Ricci
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