The U.S.
Commerce Department reported on Monday that the durable goods orders jumped 9.9
per cent m-o-m in July, following a downwardly revised 6.9 per cent m-o-m uptick
(from -6.6 per cent m-o-m) in June. This was the strongest monthly rise in durable
goods orders since May 2023 (+13.1 per cent).
Economists
had predicted a 5.0 per cent m-o-m climb.
According to
the report, the July surge was due to decreases in orders in 5 of 9 sectors, driven
by transportation equipment (+34.8 per cent m-o-m) and capital goods (+34.3 per
cent m-o-m).
Meanwhile, orders
for durable goods excluding transportation slipped 0.2 per cent m-o-m in July,
following a downwardly revised 0.1
per cent m-o-m gain (from +0.5 per cent m-o-m) in the previous month, being slightly
worse than economists’ estimate of a 0.1 per cent m-o-m decrease.
This marked the steepest monthly fall since January (-0.3 per cent m-o-m).
Elsewhere,
orders for non-defence capital goods excluding aircraft, a closely watched
proxy for business spending plans, edged down 1.0 per cent m-o-m last month
after a downwardly revised 0.5 per cent m-o-m advance (from +1.0 per cent
m-o-m) in June. Economists had forecast no
change.
On a y-o-y
basis, durable goods orders declined 1.4 per cent, while orders, excluding
transportation, increased 1.4 per cent.