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For the first time since spring, orders for durable goods—items that are intended to last more than three years, such as washing machines and lawn mowers—fell in September, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Orders declined 0.4 percent from August, settling to $261.3 billion, after four months of rising orders beginning last May.
August’s estimate of growth in durable-goods orders was revised from 1.8 percent to 1.3 percent.
New orders for nondefense capital goods, which deletes aircraft from the calculation, rose 0.8 percent in September compared to August.
However, chip shortages continued to wreak havoc on industry, with General Motors reporting cutting vehicle shipments by almost half in July through September, compared to the same period in 2020.
GM expects the chip shortage to ease this quarter but continue into next year, in tandem with rising prices and shortages of other materials, CFO Paul Jacobson told the WSJ.
TRENDPOST: So far this year, new orders for durable goods have climbed 23.4 percent year over year, but shipments have upped by only 13.6 percent, reflecting shortages and supply-line clogs that keep orders from being manufactured and delivered.