- William Dudley, New York Fed President
Orders for US long-lasting manufactured goods increased in July, while demand in a category that tracks business investment plans surged the most in 13 months. The Commerce Department reported that orders for durable goods rose 2% last month following the 4.1% surge in the preceding month. Orders for non-defence capital goods excluding aircrafts, a proxy for private sector investment plans, advanced 2.2% in July, marking the biggest increase since June 2014 and following the 1.4% increase in June. Excluding transportation, core durable orders edged 0.6% higher, which was stronger than the 0.4% gain markets had expected and the June print was revised to a 1% gain compared with a 0.8% increase estimated previously. While July data is encouraging, US manufacturers still face headwinds due to a stronger Dollar and economic turbulence in China, the world's second biggest economy.
Meanwhile, New York Fed President William Dudley said that prospects of interest rate hike in September "seems less compelling" given the recent market turmoil, hinting that fears of China's economy slowdown are impacting Fed's monetary policy. However, Dudley warned about overreacting to "short-term" market volatility and kept the door open to hiking rates during Fed's meeting on September 16-17.
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