WASHINGTON (MNI) - The value of durable goods new orders rose 4.4% in July, a stronger-than-expected gain, with a sharp rebound in aircraft orders only part of the story as increases were spread across the components, data released by the Commerce Department Thursday indicated.
Analysts had expected a 3.1% rebound in total new orders, as Boeing announced a rebound this month, and the aircraft orders components did not disappoint. Nondefense aircraft orders jumped 89.9% and defense aircraft orders were up 20.3% in July, both after significant declines in previous months.
While motor vehicles orders provided some offset with a flat reading in the month, total transportation orders jumped 10.5% in the month after an 11.4% decline in June and a 7.1% decline in May.
Meanwhile, new orders excluding transportation rose 1.5% in July after an upward revised 0.3% decline in June, a solid start to the third quarter. There were widespread gains in the nontransportation categories, with primary metals up 1.4%, fabricated metals up 1.5%, machinery up 1.6%, computers and electronic products up 3.6%, and electrical equipment up 2.6%. The "all other durables" category was the only spoiler, down 0.3% in July.
Nondefense capital goods new orders were up 10.2% due to a sharp rebound in civilian aircraft orders, but were still up 1.6% excluding civilian aircraft.
Durable goods shipments rose 0.2% in July, with nondefense capital goods shipments flat and down 0.4% excluding civilian aircraft shipments. There were downward revisions to these capital goods categories in June, a negative for the GDP revision due out Friday.
Durables inventories rose 0.3% and unfilled orders were down 0.1% in July.
