US durable goods orders rise

US economic data on Monday were mostly positive.

Durable goods orders rose 4.6 percent in December, the fourth consecutive monthly increase. Excluding transportation equipment, orders increased 1.3 percent. Orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft increased 0.2 percent.

Pending home sales fell 4.3 percent in December, the first decline since August. However, the lower sales were mainly attributed to supply limitation. Bill McBride says that the “key for sales is that the number of conventional sales is increasing while foreclosure and short sales decline”.

Finally, the Dallas Federal Reserve reported that its manufacturing production index for Texas rose to 12.9 in January from 3.5 in December while its general business activity index rose to 5.5 from 2.5.

Meanwhile, however, in the euro area, data on Monday showed that loans to the private sector fell 0.7 percent in December from a year ago. M3 money supply grew 3.3 percent in December from a year ago, down from 3.8 percent growth in November.