Posted by Joseph Y. Calhoun, III

Orders for Durable goods rose last month:

New orders for manufactured durable goods in September increased $1.6 billion or 1.0 percent to $165.7 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau announced today. This was the second increase in the last three months. This followed a 2.6 percent August decrease. Excluding transportation, new orders increased 0.9 percent. Excluding defense, new orders increased 0.5 percent.

Machinery, up five of the last six months, had the largest increase, $1.7 billion or 7.9 percent to $23.4 billion.

Inventories were down again, but capital goods orders were up. Specifically, non defense capital goods orders ex-transportation which is a good proxy for capital spending, rose 2%. That’s the first rise in three months and obviously isn’t a trend yet, but it is good news if it can be repeated.