[Hixinfineedom]

Typical economic naysayer's cherrypicking of data and looking at ONLY the most pessemistic possible perspective

What you present is the MONTHLY change (and you interestingly left out the upward revision of the December numbers). However, if you look at the Year-on-Year data, the situation looks far less pessimistic:



And let's look at the ANALYSIS provided by the experts at briefing.com (which you also ignore, substituting instead your own perspective):

Highlights
Actual: -10.2%, 0.6% ex-transportation

Key Factors
-Strong drop-off belies growth ex-trans with big upward revisions to Dec (1.9% from 0.9%).
-Large drop in nondefense aircraft/parts -68.2% and defense -64.3% provide downward direction.
-Transportation orders drop -31.2% after the 32% Q4 surge.
-Non-transportation orders continue to hold gains +0.6% after two months of positive numbers.
-Machinery orders decline -2.5% after the 12% Q4 gain. -Computers and electricals edge lower -0.4%.
-Non-defense capital goods orders (i.e. business investment) fell modestly -0.4%.

Big Picture
-Business (capital goods) investment strengthened in 2005 through the end of capital investment tax incentives, the Sept energy price spike and the temporary dip in business confidence. The year ended with orders at 13% yoy and non-defense capital goods orders at a stunning 32%. Briefing.com has a strong 2006 outlook given strong corporate profits, large cash flow, low borrowing rates and underlying business demand. High energy prices offer a partial counter to the strong fundamentals given the potential for crowding out of business investment. Most of the drop was due to a single sector (transport) and that sector showed a monthly decline only after a huge SURGE in Q4 (not an unusual cyclical event). And the overall outlook for 2006 by briefing.com is "strong". Go figure