Decent durable goods orders show US economy is still plugging along

Durable goods orders, excluding transportation, grew by 1.3% in December, suggesting that the US economy kept plugging along through debates in Washington, DC, about how to resolve the fiscal cliff—a package of austerity measures that could have slashed government spending and inflated taxes at the beginning of 2013.

However, non-defense capital goods expenditures, excluding aircraft, did show a little weakness, declining by 0.3% after two months of 3% growth. Bottom line: It looks like political turmoil in Washington had an impact on companies’ decision-making last month but not a big one.