This is obviously not good news and does not speak to a recovering economy.  These two items caught my eye in the group of news reports I received this morning.  I felt these did not speak well of what is being touted as an economic recovery.  

DURABLE GOODS ORDERS FALL

February 28, 2012

New orders for U.S. manufactured goods fell in January by the most in three years as demand fell across the board from machinery to aircraft, suggesting the economy started the year on weaker footing than expected. Durable goods orders dropped 4.0%, the biggest drop since January 2009 when the country was still mired in a deep recession, according to Commerce Department data on Tuesday.

Economists had forecast orders falling 1.0%.

Durable goods range from toasters to big-ticket items like aircraft which are meant to last three years and more.

Excluding transportation, orders fell 3.2%. Economists had expected that reading to be flat. Machinery orders dropped 10.4%, the largest decline since January 2009.

Non-defense capital goods orders excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for future business investment, fell 4.5%, the steepest drop in a year.

A 6.1 percent drop in bookings for transportation equipment - including a 19% fall in civilian aircraft orders - dragged on the overall reading for durable goods.

Boeing received 150 orders for aircraft during the month, according to the plane maker's website, down from 287 in December.

Read more: http://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/2012/02/28/durable-goods-orders-...

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HOME PRICES DROP

The S&P/Case-Shiller composite index of 20 metropolitan areas shows home prices dropped 1.1% on a non-seasonally adjusted basis in December from November. Economists forecast a smaller 0.9% decline.

Latest Press Release

All Three Home Price Composites End 2011 at New Lows According to t...

28-Feb-2012 09:00

Data through December 2011, released today by S&P Indices for its S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, the leading measure of U.S. home prices, showed that all three headline composites ended 2011 at new index lows.