By CountingPips.com
Durable goods orders fell unexpectedly in the month of February and marked a decrease in new orders for three out of the last four months, according to a report released by the U.S. Commerce Department today. New orders for durable goods orders declined by 0.9 percent or by $1.9 billion to a seasonally adjusted total of $200.0 billion in February. Today’s report follows a revised increase of 3.6 percent in new orders for January. Contributing to the slowdown in orders was a 24.8 percent decrease in new orders for defense capital goods while 
machinery orders fell by 4.2 percent.
Durable goods are assets that are generally considered to last more than three years.
Today’s data came in worse than market forecasts that were expecting durable goods orders to increase by approximately 1.2 percent for the month.
New orders for durable goods, excluding transportation, also came in worse than expected and fell by 0.6 percent in February following a decrease by 3.0 percent in January. Market forecasts were looking for a gain by 2.0 percent in the durable goods minus transportation category.
Shipments of durable goods rose by 0.7 percent while unfilled orders increased by 0.4 percent and has been up for 10 out of the last 11 months. Durable good inventories increased for the 14th consecutive month with a rise of 0.9 percent while February nondefense orders for new goods advanced by 2.5 percent and defense orders for capital goods dropped by 24.8 percent to a total of $8.3 billion.
US Weekly Jobless Claims edge lower by 5,000
A government release today by the U.S. Labor Department showed that weekly U.S. jobless claims edged slightly lower in the week that ended on March 19th. New jobless claims fell to a total of 382,000 unemployed workers, a decrease from the prior week by 5,000 workers. This decline almost matched market forecasts predicting the fall to 383,000 claims.
The 4-week moving average of initial unemployed workers dipped by 1,500 from the prior week to a total of 385,250.
Meanwhile, workers seeking continuing claims for unemployment benefits for the week ending on March 12th declined by 2,000 workers to a total of 3,721,000 unemployed workers. The four week moving average of continuing claims fell lower by 28,000 workers to a total of 3,750,250.
FOREX: US Dollar on the decline today, Stocks rising higher
The U.S. dollar has been trading lower in forex trading today against the other major currencies while the U.S. stock markets have been higher for the day. The dollar has fallen today versus the euro, Canadian dollar, Japanese yen, Australian dollar and the New Zealand dollar while the American currency has increased versus the British pound sterling, according to currency data by Oanda. The Japanese yen is currently trading close to unchanged versus the American currency in forex trading action.
The U.S. stock markets, meanwhile, have gained today with the Dow Jones rising by over 70 points, the Nasdaq increasing over 30 points and the S&P 500 up by over 8 points at time of writing.
In commodities, oil has a dipped by $0.23 to $105.52 per barrel while gold futures have edged higher by $1.60 to the $1439.50 per ounce level.
