pa href=”http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/Xk6e4_oNoXVfa7SdmhQ-wFVOGKs/a”img src=”http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/Xk6e4_oNoXVfa7SdmhQ-wFVOGKs/i” border=”0″ ismap=”true”/img/a/pWednesday was all about “surprising” good news. Most thought that the spotlight would be on rehashing congressional testimony by Fed Chair Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner — or on digesting the President’s prime-time news conference the night before.br /br /Instead durable goods orders in February shocked economists (and the markets) by showing sharply better numbers than anyone had expected. The consensus estimate from the experts called for a 2 percent decrease. The strong 3.4 jump surprised even the most optimistic prognostications that had only forecast a paltry 1.0% rise.br /br /a href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jlRX6zR7UgM/Scr_fdtxYCI/AAAAAAAAAUk/ufube7NE_h0/s1600-h/duragoods.jpg”img style=”margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 257px; height: 270px;” src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jlRX6zR7UgM/Scr_fdtxYCI/AAAAAAAAAUk/ufube7NE_h0/s320/duragoods.jpg” alt=”" id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5317343226081927202″ border=”0″ //aSeveral industry segments reported significant gains. Machinery orders shot up 13.5%. Orders for computers spiked up 10.1%, with defense aircraft and parts surging by 32.4%. The closely watched special category of nondefense capital goods orders pushed higher by 7.4%.br /br /The readings were no doubt a pleasant shock to many. There is clearly a style=”color: rgb(51, 51, 255);” href=”http://mast-economy.blogspot.com/2009/03/manufacturing-data-now-trending-toward.html”more resilience in the manufacturing sector/a than most believed and this report confirmed that more indicators are starting to fall in the improved or no longer falling categories.br /br /Then thanks to the Fed’s aggressive work to free up mortgage lending, new home sales, like existing home sales earlier in the week, also came in higher than expected. With a style=”color: rgb(51, 51, 255);” href=”http://mast-economy.blogspot.com/2009/02/good-news-is-now-on-roll.html”good news on a roll/a, the mortgage application data from the Mortgage Bankers Association was also reported to register striking improvement.br /br /By the end of the day, treasury testimony and presidential press answers were forgotten. The ongoing rally in the a style=”color: rgb(51, 51, 255);” href=”http://mast-economy.blogspot.com/2009/02/bull-market-move-swift-and-steep.html”stock market took center stage/a, advancing strongly late in the day to post its best monthly gain since 1991.div class=”blogger-post-footer”div/div
No Gloom here. Only Good News.
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a href=”http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1416560610?ie=UTF8tag=thegooneweco-20linkCode=as2camp=1789creative=9325creativeASIN=1416560610″The Power of Positive Thinking/a
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a href=”http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0743243153?ie=UTF8tag=thegooneweco-20linkCode=as2camp=1789creative=390957creativeASIN=0743243153″The Road Less Traveled/a
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Last 5 posts by Eldon Mast

• GDP, Manufacturing, Confidence, and Earnings -- All Up - January 31st, 2010
• Good News Wrap - First Week of Sept - September 8th, 2009
• Mr. Roubini, Please Have a Seat Already - April 26th, 2009
• Not All Banks Increased Loan Write-Offs in Q1 - April 24th, 2009
• Seven Banks Have Now Paid Back TARP - April 21st, 2009