Reply #65: Manufacturing data fuel US recession fears [View All]

[Ghost Dog]

US manufacturing orders on Wednesday recorded their biggest decline in five months and new home sales slumped to a 13-year low, compounding fears that the US economy may be sliding into recession.

Orders for big-ticket manufactured items fell 5.3 per cent in January, exceeding economists’ expectations of only a 3.5 per cent decline. The disappointing headline result wiped out a revised 4.4 per cent increase in December, when buoyant aircraft sales had provided a boost to the figures.
New home sales declined 2.8 per cent to a 588,000 annual rate after December’s figures were revised fractionally higher. Consensus estimates for January were for a 600,000 annual rate. Meanwhile, inventories of unsold homes rose to the highest level since 1981.

The slew of data was discomforting for economists, some of whom have pinned hopes that the US economy can avoid a recession this year, in part, on expectations that business spending would hold up. The housing report also confounded nascent hopes that new home sales might show signs of stabilising.

/... http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/bfe88122-e540-11dc-9334-0000779fd2ac.html