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.
After inflation: +4.9% (August 2026, year over year, CPI-adjusted)
Durable goods orders ($)
- YoY %
- 8.4%
Next release: Oct 27, 2026
Latest reading
As of August 2026, Durable Goods (Durable goods orders ($)) stands at $338B — down from $339B the prior reading, 2.7% below the April 2026 record of $348B. After inflation, durable goods orders rose 4.9% over the year to August 2026. The headline is volatile thanks to lumpy aircraft and defense orders, so the cleaner signal is core capital goods (non-defense, ex-aircraft) or the ex-transportation cut. Use year-over-year comparisons to see the trend; double-digit YoY growth marks robust investment, while sustained declines below -5% flag recession risk. Rising order backlogs point to strong demand ahead. Series history runs from 1993 to present.
Sources, methodology & freshnessCensus Bureau via FRED (DGORDER), monthly, seasonally adjusted · Monthly, with every releaseData as of 2026-08-01 · Open ↓Close ↑
Full history
Orders level ($)
Year-over-year %
The annual growth rate. Shaded zones split growth (green, above 0%) from decline (red, below 0%) — cliff-edge drops below zero tend to lead recessions.
Real orders growth
New orders for durable goods after CPI inflation, against the same period a year earlier. Below zero, it lost ground to prices. CPI is a consumer basket; capital-goods prices move differently, so read this as purchasing power of the orders.
Deflated by CPI-U (BLS), matched by month; the latest months appear once CPI is published.
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. Latest observation 2026-08-01; site refreshed 2026-10-22. Maintained and reviewed by Yuriy Matso; see our methodology for the standards every series on the site is held to.
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.
After inflation: +4.9% (August 2026, year over year, CPI-adjusted)
Durable goods orders ($)
- YoY %
- 8.4%
Next release: Oct 27, 2026