Durable goods orders beat forecasts in April, countering recent weakness signs

 Bookings for durable goods meant to last more than 3 years rose more than forecast in April, signaling gains in business investment that should boost manufacturing in the second half of 2013.

Durable goods orders rose 3.3 percent in April, after a prior drop by 5.9 percent, according to the U.S. Commerce Department. Analysts had predicted a 1.5 percent increase. The strength in overall new orders was broad based, from transportation to machinery and electronics, running counter to recent signs of weakness in the factory sector.

Excluding the more volatile transportation equipment component, durable orders climbed 1.3 percent, the first gain in three months, while analysts had expected a rise by 0.5 percent.

Bookings for commercial aircraft climbed 18.1 percent last month after slumping 43 percent in March, today’s report showed. Boeing Co., the Chicago-based aerospace company, said it received 51 orders last month, up from 29 in March.

Shipments of these core capital goods, which go into calculations of equipment and software spending in the gross domestic product report, fell 1.5 percent. That suggests business spending got off to a weak start in the second quarter, and could reinforce expectations that economic growth will slow during the period.

Demand for transportation equipment jumped 8.1 percent, boosted by sharp gains in the volatile aircraft segments.

The U.S. economy has seemed to overcome harsh fiscal austerity measures surprisingly well this year, with Washington increasing taxes in January and enacting sweeping budget cuts in March.

However, economists think austerity measures will sap some strength from the economy as the year goes on. In today’s report, shipments for capital goods in the defense sector fell 5.6 percent.