Orders for durable goods, products intended to last more than three years, rose 4.5% in August according to the Commerce Department.  New orders for manufactured durable goods rose $11.1 billion to $259.6 billion.  August rebounded from July’s revised 1.2% decrease (revised from a 1.7% decrease).   Some slowing is to be expected as orders are up 9.2% year-over-year.

Orders for non-defense capital goods, excluding aircraft orders, fell 0.5%.  A decline in demand for computers and electronic product contributed to the decline.  Orders for motor vehicles and parts declined by 1.0%.  Orders for civilian aircraft soared higher by 69.1 %.  Boeing (BA) reported it had received 99 aircraft orders in August, up from 25 in July. 

Claims

Initial jobless claims increased 12,000 to 214,000 for the week ending September 22.  This was slightly higher than the 209,000 consensus.  A better gauge, the four-week moving average increased 250 to 206,250. 

• Continuing claims for the week ending September 15 increased by 16,000 to 1.661 million. 
• Four-week moving average for continuing claims decreased by 12,250 to 1.679 million, the lowest level since the week ended November 10, 1973. 

Although both initial and continuing claims rose, they are still at historically low levels. 

After yesterday’s post FOMC sell off, the Dow has recouped its loses and is trading higher by 165 points. FAANG stocks are helping lift the Nasdaq by 1%.  

• Facebook (FB) + 2.50%
• Apple (AAPL) + 2.36%
• Amazon (AMZN) +1.87%
• Netflix (NFLX) +0.87%
• Alphabet (GOOG) +1.80%

Breadth: Decidedly positive (excluding new highs/lows)

• NYSE advances 1,932 to declines 967; new 52-week highs 38 to new lows 95
• Nasdaq advances1,723 to declines 1,175; new 52-week highs 52 to new lows 57