Core durable goods orders still flat lining

Core durable goods orders in January were higher by one tenth m/o/m just as expected. The problem though was that the December print from which orders rose one tenth was revised down by 8 tenths to a drop of 6 tenths. In dollar/nominal terms, core cap ex orders are no higher than they were six months ago and that has also been reflected in the last two Real GDP reports where business investment has been flattish.

The positive though from a Q1 GDP perspective was that shipments were higher than expected via orders from last year as this is plugged into the GDP calculation.