Data - April 24

CANADA

no domestic data today

U.S.

durable goods orders, which were down 24% YoY through February, came in better than expected for March (down 0.8% MoM vs. -1.5% expected), largely because February's gain was revised down (to +2.1% from the original +3.4% reported); this was the 7th decrease in the last 8 months, so the YoY rate is now -25%; inventories continue to decrease, but not as fast as shipments, so the inventories-to-shipments ratio rose to 1.9; ex-transport orders, which were down 17% YoY through February, were -0.6% in March vs. -1.2% expected, after February was revised down from +3.9% to +2.0%; the YoY rate is now -20%; non-defense ex-aircraft capital goods orders were up 1.5%, after a 4.3% increase in February, but 12.3% decline in January and 5.9% decline in December, so the YoY rate is now -18.3%

new home sales were 356k in March, basically flat at February's upwardly-revised level of 358k (from 337k), (and up from January's revised low of 331k) down 31% in the last year and 74% from the 2005 peak

INTERNATIONAL

German IFO index, like ZEW previously, still contractionary, but not as badly, rising to 83.7 (business climate) from 82.1 (the current assessment and expectations components rose similarly)

U.K. GDP in Q1 was a little worse than expected, down 1.9% vs -1.5%, so the YoY rate is now -4.1%, despite retail sales having exceeded estimates (up in March, +1.5% YoY)

French consumer spending was up more than expected in March, so is back to positive territory on a YoY basis (+0.6%)

Spanish unemployment is now 17.4%