Durable goods orders inched up 0.2% in November, the second increase in the past three months, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.
New orders for durable goods excluding transportation rose 2.0%, following a revised 0.7% drop in October that was originally reported as a 0.6% decrease.
The overall 0.2% increase in durable goods orders in November followed an unrevised 0.6% decline the previous month and a 2.2% rise in September.
While the headline orders figure was below the 0.5% increase predicted by a median estimate of economists polled by Thomson Reuters, the 2.0% rise in orders excluding transportation was far above economists' 1.0% forecasted rise for the category.
