Durable Goods Statistics Provide Hope for Recovery

ANN ARBOR, MI/January 30, 2002-New orders for durable goods climbed 2.0 percent in the fourth quarter according to the U.S. Commerce Department today, providing some signs of hope for a U.S. economic recovery in 2002. While durable goods orders for 2001 were off by a total of 12.8 percent compared to 2000, new orders for the fourth quarter showed a gain of 1.4 percent over 2001 third quarter numbers.

New orders for manufactured durable goods increased by $3.4 billion in December, according to the department's report, a stark contrast to the 6.0 percent decrease in orders from November.
 
Shipments of durable goods increased $0.9 billion, or 0.5 percent, to $180.5 billion in December. This compares to a 0.4 percent decrease in shipments in November. Shipments for the year were off by 8.1 percent, but the fourth quarter accounted for only 1.3 percent of the drop.

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• Leading Economic Indicators
• U.S. Commerce Department