Durable Goods and Capital Goods Orders better than Expected

Orders for durable goods, items meant to last three years or more, rose strongly last month after an upwardly revised 1.3% gain in June, the Commerce Department said. Analysts were expecting durables orders to remain unchanged from the previous month.

Transportation orders rose 3.1% in July, largest gain since February, on a 28% rise in civilian aircraft orders. That followed a 21.3% drop in aircraft orders in June.

Even when volatile transportation orders were stripped out, demand for durables rose 0.7%. Analysts had expected a 0.5% drop in durables orders excluding transportation.

Non-defense capital goods orders excluding aircraft, seen as a barometer of business spending, jumped 2.6%, steepest gain since April. Analysts were expecting that category to decline by 0.1%.