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New orders for durable goods increased in March, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. NAM Chief Economist Chad Moutray broke it down for us.

The big number: “New orders for durable goods rose 0.8% from $272.7 billion in February to $275.0 billion in March,” said Moutray. “This was not far from the record level in January, which was $277.5 billion.”

Digging deeper: “Defense and nondefense aircraft and parts sales, which can be highly volatile from month to month, were both off sharply in March,” said Moutray. “On the other hand, motor vehicles and parts orders rebounded.”

• “Excluding transportation equipment, new durable goods orders increased 1.1% from $189.2 billion in February to a record $191.3 billion in March.”
• “New orders have jumped 10.2% over the past 12 months, or 8.9% with transportation equipment excluded.”

The big picture: “As with other indicators, these data continue to illustrate the resilience of the manufacturing sector in the face of significant challenges with supply chain bottlenecks, worker shortages, soaring costs and COVID-19,” said Moutray.