US durable goods orders excluding transportation beat forecasts for November

Orders for durable goods grew in 0.2% in November, reversing a contraction of 0.6% reported for October, but short of forecasts of 0.4% growth. On the other hand, those orders excluding transportation increased by 2.0% in November, beating forecasts of just 0.9% growth as well as the the negative growth of 1.3% the previous month.

The biggest benefactors of new orders were computers and electronics, which had the largest increase of $0.9B, or 3.7%, to a total $25.7M, while machinery orders led the way with a 2.0% growth as far as shipments.

Coming on the heels of a huge drop in new housing sales along with underachieving GDP figures and jobless claims, this good news on heavy capital investments by US manufacturing companies could not have come at a better time with doubts growing about the strength of the country's economic recovery.

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