Durable Goods Will Stay Strong

The durable goods sector continues to confound the gloom and doomers. July's growth for the sector was 2%, with year over year growth at nearly 7%. While the sector's string of good numbers seems to surprise investors every time new data are reported, it shouldn't, the major players are all companies that are benefiting from five powerful forces:

1. They are prime beneficiaries of globalization.
   
2. They are net exporters, thus, they have benefited from the fall in the dollar over the last several years.
3. As a result of many years of consolidation, they are a much more focused industry with far few players than just a few years ago.


4. They are getting a tail wind from companies in the US who are using these softer economic times to upgrade their operating efficiencies through the purchase of new capital equipment.


5. These companies are not the old metal bending companies that come