March 25 (Bloomberg) -- Orders for U.S. durable goods unexpectedly rose in February on a rebound in demand for machinery, computers and defense equipment.
The 3.4 percent increase, the first gain in seven months, followed a 7.3 percent decrease in January that was larger than previously estimated, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. Excluding transportation equipment, orders gained 3.9 percent, the most since August 2005.
Combined with reports showing improvements in retail sales, residential construction and home resales, the figures indicate the economy is stabilizing after shrinking last quarter at the fastest pace in a quarter century. Stepped-up efforts by the Obama administration and Federal Reserve to ease the credit crunch may help revive growth later this year.
“We are still seeing contraction, but there’s been a slowing in the pace of contraction,” Julia Coronado, senior U.S. economist at Barclays Capital Inc. in New York, said before the report. “We have seen consumer spending stabilize and that means manufacturers will work off the inventories and slow down the pace of contraction in production.”
