Durable Goods Orders Surged 2.9% in April: Recession Fears Ease; Dollar Turns Mixed
Orders for ÛÏbig ticketÛ durable goods surged 2.9 percent in April, the biggest advance since December, the government said yesterday in a report that further eased fears of a recession this year.</br></br>The Commerce Department said orders for manufactured goods expected to last three years or more rose to a seasonally adjusted $129.1 billion last month after a 1 percent increase in March.</br></br>Those gains followed declines in January and February that had raised concerns that economic growth might be in danger of slowing so much that the country could topple into a recession brought on by a credit squeeze engineered by the Federal Reserve Board.</br></br>But analysts said the back-to-back gains of the last two months were a good indication that demand in the manufacturing sector will be enough to keep the economy expanding this year, although at a slower pace than 1988.</br></br>The news initially caused the dollar to rise further on international currency markets, continuing the recent rally, but the surge later subsided. The dollar turned mixed as dealers cashed in profits from its recent strength and speculated on what the United States and its trading partners might do next to stabilize foreign exchange rates.