Department of Commerce Report: Largest Decrease in Demand for Durable Goods in Three Years
A new report issued by the Department of Commerce this morning showed that new orders for manufactured durable goods in January decreased by $8.6 billion to $206.1 billion.
The change in overall demand for durable goods fell from +3.2% in December 2011 to -4.0% in January 2012. The decrease in demand of 4.0 % represents the largest decrease since President Obama's first month in office, January 2009, and marks the first time demand has fallen by 4 percent or more since the last recession ended:
Demand for Non-defense Capital Goods Excluding Aircraft fell by 4.5% in January. These figures suggest weak business investment for the first quarter of 2012, and are consistent with a broader slowdown in industrial production growth, as well as consistent with recent trends in other economic indicators, such as retail sales and labor force participation, which hint at a stalled recovery at best, or at worst the possibility of a "double-dip" recession on the horizon.