Economic Reports Continue To Show Quickening Growth

For example, a plastics manufacturer in North Carolina responded to the Fed's survey by saying the company was "very busy right now. We have some good new orders in-house and pending, so I'm optimistic about the next few months."

That fit with the durable-goods report, which provided "a very positive sign that the manufacturing expansion is on a solid footing," said Daniel J. Meckstroth, chief economist for the Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI, a business research organization.

Some of the rise in durable goods orders last month was because of a 16.9 percent increase in orders for defense capital goods, including small arms, communications equipment, aircraft, ships and space vehicles. After excluding defense items, durable-goods orders rose 0.9 percent last month, with some of the strongest gains by makers of computers, communications equipment and machinery.

The Fed report concluded that "residential real estate activity remained robust overall but showed a few signs of cooling in some Districts."

While home sales continued to climb, the Commerce Department report showed the median price of a new single-family home fell slightly in the 12 months that ended in June, to $214,800.

The price drop "means that sales have been relatively stronger at the low end of the market," said Michael Carliner, a vice president the National Association of Home Builders.

At the same time, however, the median sales price of previously owned homes of all types rose 14.7 percent, to $219,000, in the year that ended in June, the fastest rate in almost 25 years, the National Association of Realtors said Monday.

"There is no reason at all to expect any significant decline in [home] sales unless and until there is a meaningful, sustained rise in mortgage rates," said Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist for High Frequency Economics.

Staff writer Sandra Fleishman contributed to this report.