Durable Goods Orders Up | Are We Buying Again?

Orders for big-ticket items up

Perhaps it was the Obama press conference March 24, in which he revealed that the Federal Reserve may begin buying Treasury securities. But whatever the case, Greg Morcroft of the Wall Street Journal reports that U.S. financial stocks have, for the time being, regained positive footing. This comes in no small part on an increase in orders for durable goods, payday loan funded or not.

The Financial Select Sector SPDR, which tracks financials in the S&P 500, climbed 5.4 percent. Demand for machines and capital goods was up in February, which in turn drove durable goods orders up by 3.4 percent according to the Commerce Department. This uptick in orders for big-ticket items is definitely a positive sign for America’s economy and marks the first monthly increase after six straight months of tumbling numbers.

Have we hit the bottom? This way up!

And economists had expected orders for durable goods to fall 1.2 percent. Ha!

Some of the high risers, thanks to this increase in orders, include the commercial real estate firm CB Richard Ellis Group Inc., which rose 60 percent to $4.81 per share; Bank of America Corp., which went up 10 percent; Fifth Third Bancorp (not responsible for the Fifth Third Burger), whose shares rose 13 percent; and XL Capital Ltd., where shares increased by 10 percent. ... click here to read the rest of the article titled "Durable Goods Orders Up | Are We Buying Again?"