U.S. Exporters of Capital Goods Enjoying More Pricing Power

(Bloomberg) -- Foreign customers of U.S. capital-equipment manufacturers were paying up in April.

Export prices of American-made capital goods jumped 2 percent from a year earlier, the biggest annual increase since August 2008, Labor Department figures showed on Friday.

Caterpillar Inc.’s monthly dealer statistics showed total sales for the company’s machines for April rose 28 percent on a year-over-year three-month rolling average basis after a 26 percent advance in the previous month.

Last week, the Commerce Department reported that the U.S. trade gap dropped 15.2 percent to a six-month low of $49 billion. Exports were lifted by a $1.9 billion increase in shipments of commercial aircraft.

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