January 29, 2009

New orders for manufactured durable goods in December decreased $4.7 billion or 2.6% to $176.8 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau announced. This was the fifth consecutive monthly decrease and followed a 3.7% November decrease. Excluding transportation, new orders decreased 3.6%. Excluding defense, new orders decreased 4.9%.
 
Shipments
Shipments of manufactured durable goods in December, down five consecutive months, decreased $1.4 billion or 0.7% to $191.3 billion. This followed a 4.2% November decrease.
 
Unfilled Orders
Unfilled orders for manufactured durable goods in December, down three consecutive months, decreased $10.3 billion or 1.3% to $803.2 billion. This followed a 0.9% November decrease. …

Real gross domestic product — the output of goods and services produced by labor and property in the U.S. – decreased at an annual rate of 3.8% in the fourth quarter of 2008, (that is, from the third quarter to the fourth quarter), according to advance estimates released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the third quarter, real GDP decreased 0.5%.
 
The Bureau emphasized that the fourth-quarter advance estimates are based on source data that are incomplete or subject to further revision by the source agency. The fourth-quarter “preliminary” estimates, based on more comprehensive data, will be released on Feb. 27, 2009.
 
The decrease in real GDP in the fourth quarter primarily reflected negative contributions from exports, …