WASHINGTON — The value of U.S. durable goods new orders fell 3.7% in January, falling more than the 2.5% decrease expected by analysts in an MNI survey.
Transportation orders fell 10.0%, and new orders excluding transportation orders posted a 0.3% decline, data released Tuesday by the Commerce Department showed.
The fall in new orders excluding transportation was well below the 0.2% gain expected and reflected declines in most categories. The only gains in new orders were in fabricated metal products (up 0.5%) and computers and electronic products (up 0.6%).
This is the first decline in new orders excluding transportation following six consecutive monthly increases. This decline marks a potential end to continued underlying strength in durable new orders, something analyst forecasts had not anticipated.
As expected, nondefense aircraft and parts new orders saw a large decline of 28.4% in January, following a 16.1% rise in December and a 14.1% increase in November. Meanwhile, defense aircraft and parts dropped 45.6%, effectively reversing the 47.8% gain seen in December. Motor vehicles orders saw a 0.1% rise. In addition, transportation orders excluding motor vehicles and aircraft fell 21.6%, according to an MNI calculation.
Nondefense capital goods new orders saw a decline of 1.5%, and was still down 2.1% when excluding civilian aircraft, according to an MNI calculation. Nondefense capital goods new orders excluding all aircrafts was down 0.2%.
Durable goods shipments rose 0.2% in January, with nondefense capital goods shipments flat and up 0.1% excluding civilian aircraft shipments, according to an MNI calculation, and still up 0.1% excluding all aircrafts.
Durable goods inventories were up 0.3% in the month, while unfilled orders saw a 0.3% decrease.
