Durable Goods Orders

The Commerce Department reported that Durable Goods Orders rose less than forecast in November, posting a .1% gain. Analysts had forecast a rise of 2%, nonetheless this was the first gain in 4 months and followed a revised .4% decline in October. Excluding transportation orders demand was down .7% versus an expected increase of .5%. Orders for military gear fell 24% led by a drop in aircraft demand. Orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, a proxy for future business investment, fell .4% after a 2.9% gain in October. Initial Jobless Claims rose 1,000 to 349,000 while continuing claims increased 75,000 to 2,713,000. Weekly mortgage data reported by the Mortgage Banker’s Association showed declines of 6.5-8.5% in its applications, purchase and refinance indices. At 9:00am CST we will get the final read on December Consumer Confidence.