The U.S. manufacturing sector started off the year with a bang, reporting its biggest gain in durable goods shipments and orders since last July.
Shipments of manufactured durable goods in January increased 3.5% following a 2% December decrease.

New orders for durable goods in January increased 3.3%. This follows a 0.4% December decrease. Excluding transportation, new orders increased 2.5%. While excluding defense, new orders increased 3.6%
These gains reversed the declines in the previous two months,” said Newport Communications Senior Economist Jim Haughey. “The January spurt should be interpreted as getting the durable goods manufacturing sector back on track after several weak months, but it is not a signal that sustainable strong growth has begun for capital equipment.”
January shipments were 2.1% higher than the same time a year ago. An 11.0% monthly gain in motor vehicle shipments accounted for about half of the January rise, but Haughey cautioned, “This pace is not sustainable because the vehicle sales growth trend is only 0.4-0.6% a month.”
Haughey said the best news in the report was a 20% rise in both computer and telecom equipment shipments.
“This more than offsets the declines in the last few months. The large gains may be random but could result from higher corporate investment budgets for 2003. Across the board, sales gains in all durable goods markets except military aircraft also suggest more growth in heavy equipment sales in 2003 than the small improvements last year,” he said.
The better than expected numbers for the sector, along with other recent economic reports, have led to increased optimism lately that the nation’s manufacturing sector may finally see a rebound this year. Over the past two years, manufacturing in the U.S. has continued to lose ground, resulting in fewer shipments for the trucking industry.