BUSINESS INVESTMENT IN TRANSPORTATION EQUIPMENT

Private Investment in Transportation Equipment (quarterly data, not seasonally adjusted)

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Private Investment in Transportation Equipment (quarterly data, not seasonally adjusted)

Private investment indicates the level of demand anticipated by industry; therefore, it can be considered a leading indicator for transportation capacity and supply. The data cover both domestically produced and imported equipment.

NOTES: The current value is compared to the value from the same period in the previous year to account for seasonality.

Private investment in transportation equipment (PITE) and manufacturers' new orders for transportation equipment (NOTE) both measure business demand for transportation equipment. However, they differ from each other in the following aspects.

(1) Actual vs. potential: PITE is the actual expenditures spent on transportation equipment by business in the concerned time period, while NOTE is the net of orders and cancellations and include orders received and filled during the concerned time period as well as orders received for future delivery, which are subject to cancellation.

(2) Domestic vs. international: PITE is expenditures spent by domestic business on purchasing transportation equipment, while NOTE includes orders from other countries.

(3) Producer vs. purchaser: NOTE is orders to transportation equipment manufacturers and is measured in producer's price, while PITE is purchasers' expenditures on transportation equipment and is measured in purchaser's price, which includes transportation cost, trade margin, and excise tax, in addition to producer's price.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis; National Income and Product Accounts data, Tables 5.4 and 5.5; Apr. 26, 2002; available at: http://www.bea.doc.gov/bea/dn/nipaweb/AllTables.asp?Selected=N#S5; based on Survey of Current Business.