Durable goods orders ahead of expectations

Economists forecast a 1.5 percent bump in orders for goods expected to last a minimum of three years. But economists also expected the rise in durable goods orders excluding transportation to climb 1.2 percent. Instead, by ignoring the more volatile transportation sector, durable goods orders dropped 0.6 percent.

Take out defense spending and new orders rose 1.6 percent, the department said.

For raw numbers, new orders in total jumped $5.2 billion to $175.7 billion.

Shipments of durable goods fell after four consecutive months of increases, dropping 0.2 percent to $180.7 billion. Unfilled orders, however, ended a record streak of 15 consecutive months of declines by rising 0.1 percent to $718.1 billion.

Durable goods inventories dropped for the 13th consecutive month, falling by $100 million to to $302.6 billion.

Copyright 2010 United Press International.