MNI: US durable goods orders for March fell by.......>

MNI: US durable goods orders for March fell by -14.4%, the biggest drop since

August 2014 (-18.4%) and outstripping market expectations for a -12.0% decrease.

Excluding transportation, however, new orders fell only -0.2%, a much smaller

decrease than the -6.3% drop expected by markets. The Census Bureau said in its

report that new orders for transportation equipment drove the decrease in new

orders for durable goods, registering a -41.0% m/m decrease. New orders for

nondefense capital goods excluding aircraft even showed a +0.1% uptick, up from

last month's -0.8% decrease. Elsewhere in the report, new orders for motor

vehicles and parts fell -18.4%, down from February's +1.6% increase. Durable

goods shipments in March continued a general downward trend, falling by -4.5% as

that category posted declines in eight of the last nine months. The report

released Friday morning by the Census Bureau stated that data collection issues

related to covid-19 did not prevent the report from meeting normal publishing

standards.