In April, real consumer durable goods spending was $2,371,756 (millions of $, SAAR), which was slightly less than March’s total. Even though April was slightly less than March, April’s durable goods spending was 66.2% higher than it was one year ago in April 2020. This was easily the fastest rate of month-over-month growth ever, surpassing last month’s 48.9% rate of growth. Of course, these incredible rates of growth were partially a result of easy comparisons due to the start of the economic lockdown.

In 10 of the last 11 months, month-over-month growth was more than 11%. The only exception was December when the growth rate was still almost 9%, nearly double the historic average. The annual rate of growth accelerated for the 10th straight month to 18.8%, which was the fastest rate of annual growth ever. This extreme rate of growth is causing significant problems in the supply chain as it is contributing to increased prices of raw materials, shipping problems, and production problems as some manufacturers are still dealing with reduced staffing.