The reports were kind of surprising to the up-side.
Actually, if you exclude the effect of transportation factory orders rose 1.9%, which is greater than 50% of 3.1%.
Also, note that non-defense capital goods orders excluding aircraft jumped 4.8 percent.
Overall a surprisingly good report. Not what I would have expected either.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) — New orders at U.S. factories rose a greater-than-expected 3.1 percent in March on a rise in civilian aircraft orders, a Commerce Department report showed on Wednesday.
Analysts polled by Reuters were expecting factory orders to rise 2.1 percent. February orders were revised to show a 1.4 percent gain.
Decline in business spending raises alarms
Excluding transportation orders, factory orders rose 1.9 percent after being unchanged in February. February orders excluding transportation were first reported as a 0.4 percent decline.
Orders for durable goods, items meant to least three years or longer, also rose a bigger-than-expected 3.7 percent in March. Analysts were expecting durables orders to gain 3.3 percent.
In a sign sluggishness in business investment may have been short-lived, nondefense capital goods orders excluding aircraft, considered a proxy for business spending, jumped 4.8 percent, the first gain in three months and the largest rise since September 2004.
Transportation orders jumped 9.5 percent on a 38.1 percent increase in civilian aircraft and parts. Orders for metals, machinery, electronic products and electrical equipment all rose.
