The
U.S. Commerce Department reported on Wednesday that the durable goods orders declined 0.4 percent m-o-m in September, following a revised 1.3 percent m-o-m climb in August
(originally a 1.8 percent m-o-m surge). This was the first drop in durable
goods orders since April.
Economists
had forecast a 1.1 percent m-o-m plunge.
Meanwhile, orders for durable goods
excluding transportation went up 0.4 percent m-o-m in September, following a
revised 0.3 percent m-o-m gain in August (originally a 0.2 percent m-o-m increase),
being in line with economists’ forecast.
Elsewhere,
orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, a closely watched
proxy for business spending plans, jumped 0.8 m-o-m in September after a
revised 0.5 percent increase m-o-m in August (originally a 0.6 percent m-o-m rise).
Economists had called for a 0.5 percent m-o-m increase in core capital goods
orders in September.
Shipments
of these core capital goods surged 1.4 percent m-o-m in September after a 0.7
percent m-o-m growth in the prior month.