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Durable goods are just that: hard goods; they don’t wear out quickly and can be used over and over again for at least several years. Think your car, TV, refrigerator or computer. These are certainly not disposable, one-time use items.
The opposite of a hard good is (surprise!) a soft good or, if you like, a non-durable good. These are products you use once, like your lunch at McDonald’s, the gas in your car and the ugly sweater your grandmother bought you for your birthday. These items have an intended lifespan short of three years, or are consumed immediately.
Investors pay attention to the monthly durable orders report released by the Commerce Department around the end of each month. When durable goods are strong, it means that U.S. manufacturing is humming along, though economists tend to parse the numbers pretty closely. Big-ticket items can skew the overall results, since an order for, say, 75 Boeing 747s has a bigger impact than 75 iPods. Luckily, the data lets economists break down the sectors.

foxbusiness.com

| New Mexican wire services
Pitching plagues ‘Topes in loss
For four innings, the Albuquerque Isotopes gave the appearance that their pitching woes might be in the past.
Then the Salt Lake Bees forced their return with seven runs in the fifth, which culminated in a 7-3 win in front of a crowd of 4,666 at Franklin Covey Field on Thursday night. It was only the second win in the last seven games for the Bees, who sport the best record in the Pacific Coast League at 26-7.
Down 2-0 heading into the fifth, Salt Lake used four walks, five hits and a sacrifice fly to drive in their runs. Kenny Baugh’s walk — his sixth of the evening — brought in a run with the bases loaded to make it 2-1. It also led to his exit.
Marcos Carvajal was no better, giving up a run scoring single to Kendry Morales and a sacrifice to Matthew Brown for a 3-2 Bees lead.
The Isotopes (18-15) struck in the first with Andrew Beattie’s RBI double and a run-scoring single by Dallas McPherson.
Pecos No. 6 in AA baseball tourney
Northern schools brought up the rear for the Class AA baseball seeding committee.
At No. 6, Pecos High School was given the highest seed for the eight-team AA State Baseball Tournament, which were released Thursday night. The District 2AA champion will play third-seeded Lordsburg in a AA quarterfinal at 10 a.m. on Monday at Albuquerque La Cueva.
Peñasco, the 2AA runner-up, earned the seventh seed and faces No. 2 Loving at 1 p.m. at La Cueva. Mesa Vista, the 1AA champion, is the eighth seed and plays top seed and two-time defending AA champion Estancia at 1 p.m. at Albuquerque Eldorado.
Pecos head coach Augustin Ruiz said he expected a low seed, but added that his team is capable of pulling off an upset.

santafenewmexican.com

The headline rate of inflation remained stable at 2.5 per cent in March, the Office for National Statistics said yesterday, providing the Bank of England with welcome room for manoeuvre as it considers further interest rate cuts in the face of the credit crisis and the slowing global economy.
The ONS said small rises in prices in the furniture, household equipment and recreation sectors compared with last March had countered larger increases in the cost of transport and housing. As a result, the consumer price index (CPI) inflation, which the Bank targets, was unchanged compared with February.
Inflation as measured by the retail prices index fell to 3.8 per cent in March, from 4.1 per cent a month earlier, as mortgage borrowers’ interest costs fell following the Bank of England base rate cut in February.
Economists were surprised by the stability of inflation, particularly following the latest data on factory gate prices, which the ONS said earlier this week were rising at the fastest rate for 17 years.
The figures suggest retailers have felt unable to pass on rising costs to consumers, whose household budgets are under pressure.
Jonathan Loynes, chief European economist at Capital Economics, said that the figures meant the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee would have more freedom to make further base rate cuts in addition to the three reductions announced since December, inflationary pressures remained.

independent.co.uk