Posted by Joseph Y. Calhoun, III

Jobless claims rose 30,000 last week to 586,000. Still rising and obviously not good.

Durable Goods orders and shipments were down for the month 1% and 2.6% respectively. That’s a big improvement over last month’s drop of 8.4% and 3.4%. Last month’s data was distorted because of the Boeing strike. There is some good news in the report:

1. Excluding transportation new orders were up 1.2%
2. Machinery new orders were up 4.1%
3. Computer and electronic equipment new orders were up 5.9%
4. Computer and related equipment new orders were up 12%
5. Capital goods new orders were up 0.2%
6. Non defense capital goods excluding aircraft new orders were up 4.7%

Unfortunately, inventories rose 0.5%. That’s the 16th rise in the last 17 months and inventories now total $342.9 billion, the highest since the series was first collected in 1992. In other words, those new orders are nice but it might not translate into new production.