How about some good economic news?

From Marketplace, I'm Novosafo. Good morning.

We got some positive news from the manufacturing sector this week.

Orders for durable goods, that's items designed to last three years or longer, rose more than expected in April.

They were up 7.9%. That's a sign of strong economic growth,

despite inflation, high interest rates, and an energy price shock rippling through the globe.

Marketplaces Mitchell Hartman has the details.

Durable goods orders can be volatile, partly because they include new aircraft,

and a bunch of them, added to Boeing's logbook,

can significantly bump up the numbers.

In April, civilian aircraft orders were up a whopping 166%.

Foreign and domestic airlines have been rushing to replace their aging fleets,

says Richard Abu Lofia at Aerodynamic Advisory.

And now they have additional incentive,

the soaring price of jet fuel. High fuel prices remind everybody that if you can get a jet with, say,

15 percent better fuel efficiency, you need to get that jet. As for warplanes, with geopolitical tensions running high from Europe to Asia to the Middle East,

Abu Lafayas says U.S. defense contractors are seeing strong ongoing demand for F-15s, F-15s, and

whatever else on the export front. The thing is, the strength in manufacturing isn't limited to aircraft,

says nationwide economist Oren Clatchkin.

Artificial intelligence continues to offer a pretty solid lift. AI investment also actually is

helping to support other aspects, metals, machinery. As data centers get built out across the

country, they have to be filled with routers and servers, plus conduits to power them and racks to hold them.

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