Orders for US capital equipment climb most since January

Bloomberg

Orders for business equipment climbed in July for a second month, advancing the most since January and indicating US firms are becoming less reluctant to invest.
Bookings for non-military capital goods excluding aircraft rose 1.6%, exceeding the most optimistic forecast in a Bloomberg survey, after a 0.5% June gain, Commerce Department data showed Thursday. Demand for all durable goods, items meant to last at least three years, rebounded 4.4%, the most since October.
The back-to-back increases in capital goods bookings, the first since January 2015, signal sales of such equipment will pick up after shipments weakened for a third straight month in July. Steadier orders would mark an improvement in demand for equipment that Federal Reserve policy makers have described as “soft”.

“As the decline in business investment slowly wanes, demand should accelerate and durable goods orders should resume their upward trend,” economists at Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. wrote in an Aug. 22 note.