Core durable goods orders gets data center lift

Core durable goods orders in December rose .5% m/o/m, above the estimate of up .3% and noteworthy was the 5 tenths upward revision to November to a .9% gain.

A key driver of the upside over the past few months was the gains seen in electrical equipment orders which were up by .3% m/o/m after a 1.7% rise in November and 1.6% in October and are up 6.6% y/o/y. You can assume where that is coming from, particularly data center construction, electrical grid buildout and other government incentivized production. It was mixed elsewhere as computer/electronics orders rose .1% after falling in the two prior quarters. Machinery orders rose .2% after no change in November. Metals orders, both primary and fabricated, were mixed.