Durable Good Orders Up 3% in January
Thursday, February 25, 11:33 AM ET

Orders soared to a seasonally adjusted $175.7 billion, and December’s orders were revised higher by nearly an entire percentage point, to a 1.9 percent increases.

This was the biggest gain in durable good orders since July, and double what analysts were expecting.

Much of the surge was driven by a 126 percent increase in civilian aircraft orders.

Aside from the airlines, companies like Boeing (NYSE:BA) and Europe’s EADS, which make the planes, and General Electric (NYSE:GE), which makes many of their engines, are crucial to the increase.

Without the pop in aircraft orders, durable goods orders would have sunk six-tenths of a percent in January.