That's because it is not true. USA Today headlined an article on reports on the latest weekly jobless claims and April durable goods orders: "Initial jobless claims drop; durable goods orders surge." While the Commerce Department did report a 1.9 percent increase in April orders, it revised down the March data by 1.3 percentage points (as noted in the article) to show a 2.1 percent decrease for the month. This left the April orders number 0.6 percentage points above the originally reported March level, almost exactly the same as the consensus forecast. The new orders index excluding the volatile transportation category rose by 0.8 percent in April, considerably less than the 2.1 percentage point downward revision to the March data, leaving the April number 1.3 percentage points below the level previously reported for March, somewhat worse than the consensus forecast. New orders for non-defense capital goods, a measure of new investment, fell by 2.0 percent in April. Excluding transportation equipment the drop was 1.5 percent. These April numbers are, respectively 35.6 percent and 27.4 percent below their year ago levels.
--Dean Baker