In a sign that the US economy continues to expand, new orders of manufactured durable goods rose 1 per cent in July and consumer confidence also showed a sizeable rebound, according to reports issued yesterday.
The US manufacturing sector, which had long shown sluggish growth or even contraction, continued to grow for the second consecutive month in July, according to figures from the US Department of Commerce. New orders of manufactured durable goods, which have a life of three years or more, rose 1 per cent or $1.7 billion (€1.56 billion) in July, in line with analyst expectations, while shipments of manufactured durable goods climbed 2.6 per cent or $4.7 billion.
The report showed strong gains in many sectors, including car sales.
In a separate report, the Conference Board reported that consumer confidence bounced back strongly in August, led by a sharp rise in expectations. The main confidence index, which had declined to 77 in July, shot up to 81.3 in August. The group's expectations' index climbed to 94.4, up from 86.3.
On employment, the Conference Board report was more mixed. Those surveyed who rated present business conditions as "bad" edged higher in August, while those expecting the job market to improve in the coming months also rose.
"Until we see a sustainable turnaround in the labour market we are unlikely to see a similar pattern in consumer confidence," said Ms Lynn Franco, director of the consumer centre at the Conference Board.
Another US report showed sales of new homes fell 2.9 per cent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.165 million, according to the Commerce Department. The July sales figure was the second highest on record and was 21.2 per cent above the July 2002 figure. - (Financial Times Service)
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