To put it mildly, durable goods orders have been all over the map but the trend appears to be slowing.

The gentle slowing trend that had been in place for much of 2005 appears to have been halted and partially reversed. However, like many other economic relationships, the one between the index of leading indicators and subsequent economic growth has loosened significantly in recent years.

While we can be somewhat blase about goods [prices], at least for a little while longer, we cannot conclude that retail inflation is anywhere near under control.

We shopped the world's markets until we dropped. We bought a lot more of everything, including capital and consumer goods, foods and motor vehicles.

A rebound to solid levels would indicate today's report was not the start of a trend, ... Another month near these levels would create some concern about the strength of the housing sector.

The plunge in durable goods orders in January is entirely due to volatility in transportation. The underlying details of this report are much stronger than the headline.