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It was a difficult day on Wall Street, as the Stock Market dropped with the report by the U.S. government that durable goods fell 3.4% in December.

The sharp drop in durable goods was fourth month out of five this metric of the economy fell, this sharp reduction was the result of declines in aircrafts and related parts to include transportation equipment.

Fortune reported new orders in December tumbled 3.4% to $230.5 billion from the prior month, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. It was the fourth month out of five that the metric has declined and the worst drop since August. Economists had projected a 0.7% increase, and even the most cautious estimates only predicated a 1.3% drop.

Fortune continued to report transportation equipment, also down for four of the past five months, led the decline in December. That segment alone accounted for a $6.8 billion shortfall in orders (overall the decline was $8.1 billion). The data provided by the Commerce Department measure industrial activity and are an indication of future business trends.

The news of the decline in durable orders comes on the eve as the Federal Reserve officials begin to gather in Washington with the top agenda item being when will the Fed  begin to raise interest rates for the first time since 2008.

“More numbers like this and the risk of the Federal Reserve backing off with a rate hike becomes more real,” said Jennifer Lee, an economist with BMO Capital Markets.

Market Watch reported the softness in orders casts doubt on whether businesses will boost investment in 2015, a key ingredient for faster economic growth. Many economists predict this will be the year U.S. reaches or exceeds 3% GDP growth.

“The disappointing trend in core investment activity is especially worrying as it brings into question the expectation for the rotation in the driver of growth from consumer spending, which remains buoyant, to business capital investment, which continues to be lackluster,” said Millan Mulraine, deputy head of U.S. research at TD Securities.

CNBC added in its own reporting orders for business equipment fell 3.4 percent last month, illustrating the impact of the slowing global economy on U.S. multinationals.

 

“At first blush, this is a terrible report and we’ll have to go back and revise our Q4 GDP estimate. The odds of GDP printing 3.5 percent or more for the fifth quarter in the last six are now virtually nil,” Dan Greenhaus, chief strategist at BTIG emailed.

“This report is always volatile so we hesitate to read too much since many other data points are telling another story. Nonetheless, this is not a good report,” Greenhaus added.

The U.S. economy has made headways in recent months but the country will get a better gauge if this drop in durable goods orders is a trend or just a blip, but one has to remember what is coming this year.

The implementation of Obamacare with the start of the first stage of the employer mandate and the individual mandate also begins this year.

The last aspect which could slow the economy is the decision by the U.S. Supreme Court regarding federal subsidies under Obamacare.  If the court rules its unconstitutional then those receiving the subsidies will see their premiums skyrocket.

We will have to wait to see what the future holds.