Jordyn McGill Economics Article Report Orders for durable goods fall 3.

6% in April Economic Report by Jeffry Bartash MarketWatch in Washington

According to recent stock reports the demand has fallen for durable goods, which are products made to last longer than 3 years like appliances and cars. The demand for transportation fell 3.6% last month seemingly in response to the March 11 earthquake in Japan. While demand for airplanes remains high globally, the need in the United States seemed to drop significantly. Boeings orders dropped by 9.5 % and their bookings for flights dropped as well. Manufacturing growth has slowed lately, though economists believe the effects should fade. In fact, the manufacturing business has exploded exponentially at the end of the recession. In my opinion, flights are way too expensive anyway. It seems ridiculous to charge for everything involved in a flight especially since it hasnt always been that way. Maybe the air companies need to feel a little pain in their wallet in order to have a good reality check. As far as the economy is concerned, people will always have to fly, so the airlines will never be out of a job. The trends are interesting to learn about and follow, but I know for sure I could never be an economist. Crunching the numbers would take the life out of me. I dont quite understand what Japans earthquake has to do with our air travel, that wasnt quite made clear in the article.

The Commerce Department said new orders for U.S.-made products designed to last three years or more, such as autos or appliances, dropped 3.6% last month. It was the biggest decline since October.
Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had expected orders to fall 3.0%. Orders fell 1.5% in April after factoring out the volatile transportation sector, marking the third decline in fourth months. Transportation orders slumped 9.5%. Boeing Co. /quotes/comstock/13*!ba/quotes/nls/ba BA +0.37% reported far fewer bookings for aircraft in April compared to March, while the auto business was hurt by a disruption in supplies related to Japans March 11 earthquake. Orders also have a pattern of declining in the first month of a new quarter. The decline in April, for example, follows an upwardly revised increase of 4.4% in March. Still, several regional surveys show that manufacturing growth appears to have tapered recently. Using a rolling average to smooth out seasonal swings and other special factors, orders have fallen an average of 0.3% in the past three months, compared to a 2.4% increase in the March-to-January period. Most economists blame the aftereffects of the Japanese earthquake and say supply-chain disruptions should fade. Whats more, global demand for aircraft remains strong. Other economists suggest the manufacturing sector might be due for a slowdown after a rapid expansion following the end of the last recession. Overall, [this is] another sign that the manufacturing recovery is starting to slow, albeit from a breakneck pace, said Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist of Capital Economics. Also in the durables report, the government said orders minus defense fell 3.6%. Government purchases of defense products are uneven and can sometimes distort the data. Another category of orders closely watched by economists, known as core capital goods, dropped 2.6%, a reversal after having surged 5.4% in March. That category excludes defense and aircraft and gives a better indication of longer-term trends in the private sector. Shipments of durable goods, meanwhile, decreased 1.0%. Shipments of core capital equipment goods, which the government uses to help calculate gross domestic product, fell 1.7% in April. Inventories of durable goods climbed 0.9% last month the 16th consecutive increase.