Non-defense US capital goods orders excluding aircraft rose by 2.2% in September, above the consensus forecast of 1%. The year-on-year rate of increase has risen to 7%, a significant shift upward in capital spending.
Apart from 2010, when orders rose sharply in percentage terms after the 2008-2009 collapse, cap goods orders have been close to flat during most of the recovery. The US is now back at pre-crisis levels of capital investment. This confirms what purchasing managers’ survey and other soft day have indicated for the past couple of months: the US is holding its own in a coordinated global expansion.