WASHINGTON — New orders for manufactured durable goods fell $17.8 billion or 7.3% to $226.6 billion in July, the Commerce Department reported Monday.
The decrease followed a revised 3.9% advance the previous month, originally reported as a 4.2% increase.
The July decrease reflected a decline in transportation equipment orders, which fell $16.7 billion or 19.4% to $69.7 billion. Excluding transportation, new orders fell 0.6%. Excluding defense, new orders fell 6.7%.
Economists polled by Thompson Reuters projected a median 4.0% decrease for durable goods new orders. The economists had expected that new orders excluding transportation would increase by 0.5%.
Durable goods shipments in July decreased $800 million or 0.3% to $228.8 billion. That followed a revised 0.1% decrease the previous month.
Unfilled orders for durable goods climbed $4.4 billion or 0.4% to $1.034 trillion. That was the highest level since the series was first published on a NAICS basis in 1992, and it followed a 2.1% increase the previous month.
Inventories rose $1.3 billion or 0.4% to $379.1 billion in July.
