LIVE MARKETS-Hot and cold: Durable goods, mortgages

Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of markets brought to you by Reuters reporters. You can share your thoughts with us at markets.research@thomsonreuters.com

HOT AND COLD: DURABLE GOODS, MORTGAGES

Investors were treated to two economic indicators on Wednesday, both of which offered good news and bad news.

New orders for long-lasting, U.S.-made goods USGDN=ECI unexpectedly rose by 0.9% last month, defying the expected 1.0% decrease. That's good news.

The print marked a sharp deceleration from January's upwardly revised 3.3% surge.

Drilling down into the Commerce Department's report - which covers everything from toaster ovens to attack drones - a 4% increase in autos/parts and a 9.3% jump in defense aircraft helped offset the 5.0% decrease in commercial aircraft and a 1.5% drop in capital goods.

The bad news is core capital goods - a metric which excludes aircraft and defense items, and is considered a barometer of U.S. corporate capex plans - surprised in the other direction by falling 0.3%.

Consensus called for a 0.2% gain.

"The details weren't as favorable as the topline number would suggest," writes Bernard Yaros, lead U.S. economist at Oxford Economics. "The weakness in core orders is a sign of policy uncertainty weighing on business investment plans."

Switching gears, the cost of financing home loans inched a tiny bit lower last week, (good) but so did mortgage demand (bad).

The average 30-year fixed contract rate USMG=ECI shaved off exactly one basis point to 6.71%, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA).

While that was enough to prompt an unremarkable 0.7% increase in applications for loans to buy homes USMGPI=ECI, a 5.3% drop in refi demand USMGR=ECI, which last week accounted for 40.4% of the pie, resulted in a composite decrease of 2.0%.

Pointing out that purchase applications hit their highest level in almost two months, Joel Kan, MBA's deputy chief economist, added that refis touched a one-month low.

"Markets remained focused on potential trade policy changes," Kan adds.

The average 30-year fixed rate is 22 basis points cooler than the same week a year ago. Over the same time period purchase and refi demand have increased 6.9% and 63.2%, respectively.

(Stephen Culp)

FOR WEDNESDAY'S EARLIER LIVE MARKETS POSTS:

NASDAQ DOWN MORE THAN 1% EARLY; NVIDIA LEADS WAY LOWER - CLICK HERE

CHINESE BIOTECHS RIDING THE 'DEEPSEEK SENTIMENT' WAVE, MACQUARIE ANALYSTS SAY - CLICK HERE

IF NEW HIGHS ARE IN THE CARDS, NYSE COMPOSITE MIGHT HAVE THE UPPER HAND - CLICK HERE

U.S. EQUITY UNDERPERFORMANCE TO PERSIST THROUGHOUT 2025 SAY JPM - CLICK HERE

NO "NASTY SURPRISES" in CPI FOR REEVES AHEAD OF BUDGET UPDATE - CLICK HERE

DIFFICULT DAYS ARE BACK FOR DOLLAR BEARS - CLICK HERE

DECLINES AS HEALTHCARE AND AUTOS LEADS LOSSES - CLICK HERE

EUROPE BEFORE THE BELL: GAINS AHEAD OF UK BUDGET UPDATE - CLICK HERE

LOOKING TO APRIL 2 WITH TREPIDATION - CLICK HERE