WASHINGTON -- New orders for manufactured durable goods soared $12.4 billion or 5.7% to $232.1 billion in February, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday.
The increase followed a revised decline of 3.8% in January, originally reported as a 5.2% decrease. The February increase was the largest since a 9.1% gain reported in September 2012.
New orders for transportation equipment drove the increase, rocketing up $13.3 billion or 21.7% to $74.4 billion. Excluding transportation, February new orders dipped 0.5%. Excluding defense, they ticked up 4.5%. Excluding aircraft, new orders fell 2.7%.
Economists polled by Thomson Reuters had projected that durable goods orders would rise 3.8%. They had expected a 0.5% gain for new orders excluding transportation.
Durable goods shipments increased $2.2 billion or 1% to $229.3 billion in February. The climb followed a revised 0.7% drop in January.
Unfilled orders for durable goods rose $9.4 billion or 0.9% to $999.8 billion, the largest monthly increase since a 1.1% mark in February 2012. The February 2013 figure followed a revised 0.1% decrease the previous month.
Inventories, which have risen in 16 of the past 17 months, were up $1.6 billion or 0.4% to $376.9 billion in February. The gain followed a 0.3% uptick in January and brought the inventory level to its highest since the series was first published on a NAICS basis in 1992.
