Durable goods orders beat expectations

New orders for manufactured durable goods -- products expected to last more than three years -- rose 1.8 percent in the month to $163.9 billion.

Shipments of durable goods fell for the 10th consecutive month, the longest continued downturn since 1992.

Shipments fell 2.1 percent to $169.9 billion.

Unfilled orders, down for eight consecutive months, dropped 0.3 percent to $747.5 billion, while inventories fell 1.1 percent to $323.3 billion, Commerce said.

Economists had expected new orders to drop 0.9 percent, which may allow the figure to give a quick boost to U.S. stock markets, but the boost may be short lived, given continued weakness in foreign demand.

Excluding transportation, new orders rose 1.1 percent in May. Non-defense new orders rose 10 percent to $53.8 billion, while defense orders rose 7.4 percent to $12 billion.

Copyright 2009 by United Press International.