Durable Goods Orders
Durable goods orders count the value of new orders placed with US manufacturers for goods meant to last three years or more — aircraft, vehicles, machinery, electronics. Because orders precede production, the series leads manufacturing activity, and businesses only commit to expensive, long-lived equipment when they are confident about future demand.
Latest reading
As of April 2026, Durable Goods (Durable Goods YoY %) stands at 17.3% — up from 0.8% the prior reading. The headline is volatile thanks to lumpy aircraft and defense orders, so the cleaner signal is core capital goods (non-defense, ex-aircraft) or the ex-transportation cut. Use year-over-year comparisons to see the trend; double-digit YoY growth marks robust investment, while sustained declines below -5% flag recession risk. Rising order backlogs point to strong demand ahead. Series history runs from 1993 to present.
Durable Goods YoY %
Next release: Jun 25, 2026
Full history
How to read it
The headline is volatile thanks to lumpy aircraft and defense orders, so the cleaner signal is core capital goods (non-defense, ex-aircraft) or the ex-transportation cut. Use year-over-year comparisons to see the trend; double-digit YoY growth marks robust investment, while sustained declines below -5% flag recession risk. Rising order backlogs point to strong demand ahead.
Methodology & data
Durable Goods is sourced from Census via the Federal Reserve's FRED service (Census Bureau via FRED (DGORDER), monthly, seasonally adjusted). We pull the complete history, chart it on a monthly basis, overlay SPY for context, and generate a dated plain-English reading from the latest release — with no smoothing or adjustment beyond what the chart legend states.
Every reading is stamped with its release date, last updated 2026-06-09. See our methodology for the standards every series on the site is held to.
- Category
- Growth
- Frequency
- Monthly
- Source
- Census
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Frequently asked questions
What is the Durable Goods Orders?
Durable goods orders count the value of new orders placed with US manufacturers for goods meant to last three years or more — aircraft, vehicles, machinery, electronics. Because orders precede production, the series leads manufacturing activity, and businesses only commit to expensive, long-lived equipment when they are confident about future demand.
How do you read Durable Goods?
The headline is volatile thanks to lumpy aircraft and defense orders, so the cleaner signal is core capital goods (non-defense, ex-aircraft) or the ex-transportation cut. Use year-over-year comparisons to see the trend; double-digit YoY growth marks robust investment, while sustained declines below -5% flag recession risk. Rising order backlogs point to strong demand ahead.
Where does the Durable Goods data come from?
Census Bureau via FRED (DGORDER), monthly, seasonally adjusted. We chart the full history and publish a dated, plain-English reading with every release; the raw series is downloadable as CSV at /data/indicators/durable-goods-orders.csv.
How often is Durable Goods updated?
Durable Goods is a monthly series from Census, refreshed here as soon as a new release posts to FRED.