This morning’s sole economic data was Aprils Durable Goods Orders. The Commerce Department announced early this morning that new orders for appliances, airplanes and other big-ticket products fell 2.1% last month, nearly matching expectations. There was a fairly large downward revision made to March’s orders, hinting that the manufacturing sector was a little softer than previously thought. Also good news was a secondary reading that excludes more costly transportation-related order (airplanes) that was unchanged when it was forecasted to rise 0.2%. Generally speaking, these readings were favorable for bonds but this data is known to be extremely volatile from month to month, so the small variances are not enough to fuel further gains in the bond and mortgage markets.
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