Strong durable goods orders in May, outside of aircraft, signal little letup in American business equipment spending. Overall orders fell 4.5%, mostly as expected due to plunging aircraft sales last month, following an 8.5% surge in April. But the real story is the widespread robust increases across nearly every other major industry group, not just computers, but general machinery, primary and fabricated metals, and autos. As a result, capital goods orders, excluding aircraft and military goods, jumped 1.6%, and is up more than 20% annualized in the past three months. Moreover, shipments of capital goods, excluding ... (full story)