"Manufacturing ended the quarter on a very weak note"
- Brian Jones, senior U.S. economist at Societe Generale
The number of orders for long-lasting U.S. manufactured goods tumbled by the most in seven months, as demand dropped for commercial aircraft, while business investment cooled. Bookings for durable goods decreased 5.7%, after a revised 4.3% gain the previous month, and called for a 2.9% contraction. Excluding the volatile transportation sector, orders fell a much smaller 1.4%, however, the softness was widespread. The demand for products produces by U.S. manufacturers cooled due to a weakness in overseas markets and lower commodities prices. Meantime, some improvement in the housing market and sustained motor vehicle sales may help keep production from faltering.
"Manufacturing ended the quarter on a very weak note," said Brian Jones, senior U.S. economist at Societe Generale in New York, who projected a 6 per cent decrease in March orders. "Not only was the March number weak but we lost on the prior revision."
"We saw strength in the industrial and automotive sectors," Chief Executive Officer Kevin March said in an interview. "Customers continue to operate with very lean levels of inventory. We built order backlog in the first quarter for the first time in a couple of quarters."
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