Another disappointing report out this morning:
Factory orders falter: August slide of 0.8% is wider than expected, sparked by downturn in transportation-related items.
October 2, 2003: 10:04 AM EDTWASHINGTON (Reuters) - New orders for U.S. manufactured goods tumbled in August, the Commerce Department said Thursday in a report that provided another sign America's manufacturing sector is ailing.
Commerce said factory orders dropped a larger-than-expected 0.8 percent in August, led by a 2.3 percent drop in transportation-related orders. Orders for durable goods -- items meant to last three or more years -- were revised to a 1.1 percent decline from the 0.9 percent drop reported last week. Factory orders for July, however, were revised up slightly in Thursday's report, to a 2.0 percent gain.
This news comes on less than glowing reports out this week from consumer and manufacturing watchdog groups. At this point, the only shining star is home sales, sparked by still low, though rising, interest rates. Even GDP, at 3.3% for the 2nd quarter, is below what economists expect for healthy growth (3.5%).
Key economic indicators (source: MSNBC)
• Consumer Confidence: Sept: 76.8 Aug: 81.7
• Retail sales: Aug: 0.6% July: 1.3%
• GDP: Q2: 3.3% Q1: 1.4%
• ISM Index: Sept: 53.7 Aug: 54.7
• Factory Orders: Sept: -0.8% Aug: 2.0%
• Unemployment Rate: Aug: 6.1% July: 6.2%
• Employment situation: Aug: -93,000 July: -49,000
• Consumer inflation: Aug: 1.3% July: 1.5%
• Housing starts: Aug: 1,820,000 July: 1,892,000
• Home sales: Aug: 7,620,000 July: 7,242,000
Tomorrow, new unemployment numbers come out. If they're worse than expected, a slight uptick, then the Administration may be happy for the cover the Plame Affair offers. The ire of an awakening media may be more appealing than that of an angry, unemployed electorate, particularly since the latter influences those "unimportant" poll numbers.