INSTANT VIEW - U.S. durable goods rose 0.3 percent
Sam: If you are interested in this sort of thing.This thing should ease the concern of an interest rate hike in Aug at least to some extent.
=================
NEW YORK, July 28 (Reuters) - Following are comments from economists and market experts after the U.S. Commerce Department reported that durable goods orders rose 0.3 percent in June after a revised 0.8 percent rise in May.
Durables excluding transportation fell 0.4 percent in June after falling a revised 1.4 percent in May.
Economists surveyed by Reuters had predicted, on average, that the orders for durable goods would rise 1.0 percent while orders excluding transportation would gain 0.7 percent. (Mohan: So much for the damn economists!)
PHIL HILL, ECONOMIST, BRIEFING.COM:
''This is much weaker than we or the market expected. It was a transportation story, as the ex-transport number was -0.4 percent. Transportation was up 2.7 (percent). It doesn't look like the bond market is doing much of anything on it. The Greenspan thing is still a factor, and he has the market so freaked out it's going to react more to bad news than to good news.''
MITCH STAPLEY, CHIEF FIXED INCOME OFFICER, KENT FUNDS:
''This is a good surprise to the market if you want lower interest rates. Industrial machinery and equipment is down for the first time since January. This report shows the unevenness in the recovery of the manufacturing sector. We were looking for a one percent increase overall. To come in at 3/10 of a percent takes a bit of the pressure off the Fed so far as a hike at the August (Federal Open Markets Committee) meeting goes.''
KATHLEEN STEPHANSEN, SENIOR ECONOMIST AT DONALDSON, LUFKIN AND JENRETTE SECURITIES CORP:
''It's a fairly weak report, it's negative. I think the Fed is not likely to tighten in August, and this would support that contention. The report is not going to change anything in terms of the outlook, and it's not going to do much to the monetary policy. Tomorrow's numbers are much more important.''
(Note: this article is ''in progress''; there will likely be an update soon.)
|