Perhaps it's an omen of good things to come amid the pandemic.
Figures released Tuesday morning by the U.S. Commerce Department showed new orders for key U.S.-made capital goods rose more than expected in September. It wraps up a quarter of potentially record growth in business spending and the overall economy, thanks to fiscal stimulus aimed at softening the blow from Covid-19.
Orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending plans, increased 1.0% last month. Data for August was revised higher to show these so-called core capital goods orders increasing 2.1% instead of 1.9% as previously estimated.
Economists had forecast core capital goods orders increasing 0.5%.
Overall U.S. durable goods orders jumped 1.9% in September, compared with expectations of an increase of just 0.5%.
