WASHINGTON — New orders for durable goods rose 4.0% in July on a seasonally adjusted basis, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday.
Orders excluding transportation rose 0.7%.
June orders were revised to a 1.3% overall decline from the originally reported 1.9% drop and to a 0.6% increase excluding transportation, up from the previously reported 0.4% rise.
The median estimates of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters was for a 2.0% increase in total orders and a 0.5% decline excluding transportation.
Transportation orders themselves were up 14.6%, based on large increases in aircraft and new vehicles.
Before the release, Bank of America Merrill Lynch economists said, "We could thank American Airlines" for a stronger headline number. The company ordered 100 of Boeing's 737 airliners. That led to a 43.4% increase in new orders for civilian aircraft.
New vehicle orders were up 11.5%, the biggest increase since January 2003. BMO Capital Markets noted that auto output by volume was up 5.2%.
Core nonmilitary capital goods orders excluding transportation fell 1.5%, in line with weak reports from regional manufacturing surveys. Forecasters also pointed out a common first-month-of-the-quarter phenomenon in which orders plunge in the first month and rebound in the following two months.
Primary metals orders went up 10.3% as copper prices rose. Orders for communications and electronic products fell 24.8%.
