The Zhitong Finance App learned that commercial equipment orders from US factories grew more than expected in April. This is a positive sign that despite the uncertain economic outlook and high borrowing costs, the business community continues to invest in the long term. Core capital goods orders (used to measure investment in equipment not including aircraft and military hardware) rebounded 0.3% in April after a slight decline in March, according to data released by the US Department of Commerce on Friday. Durable goods orders rose 0.7% overall in April, an increase that exceeded market expectations. Excluding transportation equipment, the order volume continued to grow by 0.4%.

According to information, the general increase in orders covered various fields, including motor vehicles, communication equipment, and machinery. The report shows that although companies are cautious about capital expenditure, many companies are still actively investing in the backflow trend in pursuit of increased productivity and expansion of production capacity.

Shipments of core capital goods, which are key data for calculating equipment investment in the government's GDP report, also grew strongly by 0.4% at the beginning of the second quarter.

Ahead of the durable goods report, the Atlanta Federal Reserve's GDPnow model predicts a slight increase in commercial equipment spending in the second quarter.

However, the US Department of Commerce report also showed that commercial aircraft bookings fell 8% in April after two months of steady growth, reflecting the volatility in this sector. Boeing reports that the number of orders in April was only 7, far lower than the 113 in March.

In response, Boeing executives warned that production will fluctuate in the first half of 2024 as efforts are being made to strengthen quality inspection, orderly work, and address issues such as a shortage of suppliers.

Notably, due to their instability, aircraft orders often differ from government data and are not always consistent with aircraft manufacturers' monthly reports.

Although it has been difficult for the US manufacturing industry to maintain steady growth after showing signs of recovery, the manufacturing index released by the American Institute for Supply Management (ISM) earlier this month showed that manufacturing activity contracted in April after the March expansion, for the first time since 2022. Meanwhile, another S&P Global indicator shows that manufacturing output growth accelerated in May.

Overall, the increase in commercial equipment orders in April provided an optimistic signal for the long-term investment prospects of the US economy, despite continued volatility and uncertainty in the manufacturing industry.