Orders of durable goods tank, income grows, and jobless claims near the 400,000 level. A whole host of data just released show various pictures of the US economy. Durable Goods Orders declined 3.3% month-on-month in October following an upward revision to September, which now stands at 5% (3.3% earlier). The less volatile 'ex Transportation' also tanked, falling 2.7% against consensus expectations for a small gain of 0.6%. However, like the overall number of orders, orders outside of the transportation sector were revised up for September to 1.3% from -0.8%. Regarding GDP, Capital Goods Shipments for September were revised up to 1% from 0.4%, suggesting another upward revision to 3Q GDP in a month's time. The fourth quarter is off to a poor start though as shipments are down 1.5%. Overall not a pretty report although the revisions to September make it less dramatic than October's numbers suggest. Personal Income and Spending rose pretty much in line with consensus. Income is up 0.5% against expectations of 0.4% while the reverse is true for Spending (0.4% against 0.5% expected). The numbers for September were also revised up a tad. The positive is that the increase in income is due to actual improvement rather than just government transfers, which only rose 0.1%. Wages and salaries are up 0.5% like the headline number.