The Commerce Department’s durable goods orders in June showed that manufacturing growth is slowing down. Economists have believed that durable goods would increase about 1% this month, but instead they dropped by 1%. This comes as discouraging news to those who had hoped the economic recovery would speed up. These numbers handed a blow to wall street investors on Wednesday, causing the stock market to lose some value.
The Federal reserve is set to release their survey of economic conditions later in the day. This survey is referred to as the Beige book, and many economists look at it for signs of whether the economy is rebounding or not.
When the amount of durable goods decreases, it shows that consumers are not spending as much money on manufactured merchandise. This usually is a sign that they are skeptical as to whether the economy will recovery anytime soon.