New orders for key U.S.-manufactured capital goods increased strongly in June while shipments surged, pointing to a fairly solid pace of economic growth in the second quarter.
Non-defense capital goods orders excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending, rose 0.9 percent last month after an upwardly revised 1.9 percent increase in May, the Commerce Department's Census Bureau said on Monday.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast these so-called core capital goods orders advancing 0.8 percent after a previously reported 1.4 percent jump in May. Shipments of core capital goods, which go into the calculation of the business spending on equipment component in the gross domestic product report, surged 1.9 percent last month after gaining 0.2 percent in May.
The government is scheduled to publish its advance estimate of second-quarter GDP growth on Thursday. A Reuters survey of economists estimated the economy grew at a 2.1 percent annualized rate last quarter, which would match the January-March quarter's pace. Businesses are ramping up investment in artificial intelligence, fueling demand for information processing equipment and other related products, and supporting manufacturing and the overall economy.
Reuters
