After reporting a sharp pullback in new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods in the previous month, the Commerce Department released a report on Wednesday unexpectedly showing a modest rebound in durable goods orders in the month of August.<\/p>\n
The Commerce Department said durable goods orders crept up by 0.2 percent in August after plunging by a revised 5.6 percent in July.<\/p>\n
The uptick surprised economists, who had expected durable goods orders to fall by 0.5 percent compared to the 5.2 percent nosedive that had been reported for the previous month.<\/p>\n
The modest rebound in durable goods orders was partly due to a jump in order for electrical equipment, appliances and components, which shot up by 1.1 percent in August after slipping by 0.3 percent in July.<\/p>\n
Orders for fabricated metal products, machinery and computer and electronic products also increased during the month.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the report said orders for transportation equipment edged down by 0.2 percent in August after plummeting by 14.8 percent in July.<\/p>\n
The modest decrease came as an extended nosedive in orders for non-defense aircraft and parts more than offset a surge in orders for defense aircraft and parts.<\/p>\n
Excluding the dip in orders for transportation equipment, durable goods orders rose by 0.4 percent in August after inching up by a downwardly revised 0.1 percent in July.<\/p>\n
Economists had expected ex-transportation orders to edge up by 0.1 percent compared to the 0.5 percent increase originally reported for the previous month.<\/p>\n