U.S. durable goods orders decrease less than expected in July

The U.S. Commerce Department reported on Wednesday that the durable goods orders edged down 0.1 percent m-o-m in July, following an unrevised 0.8 percent m-o-m gain in June. This was the first drop in durable goods orders in three months.

Economists had forecast a 0.3 percent m-o-m decrease.

According to the report, the July drop was mainly attributable to lower orders for transportation equipment (-2.2 percent m-o-m), as well as electrical equipment, appliances, and components (-1.8 percent m-o-m) and computers and electronic products (-0.4 percent m-o-m). Meanwhile, orders for durable goods excluding transportation rose 0.7 percent m-o-m in July, following a revised 0.6 percent m-o-m increase in June (originally a 0.3 percent m-o-m advance), exceeding economists’ forecast for a 0.5 percent m-o-m jump.

Elsewhere, orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending plans, was flat m-o-m in July after a revised 1.0 percent climb m-o-m in June (originally a 0.7 percent m-o-m rise). Economists had called for a 0.5 percent m-o-m increase in core capital goods orders in July.

Shipments of these core capital goods went up 1.0 percent m-o-m in July after an unrevised 0.6 percent m-o-m growth in the prior month.

On a y-o-y basis, durable goods orders were up 25.3 percent, while orders, excluding transportation, were up 17.7 percent.