New orders for manufactured durable goods in October increased $3.0 billion or 1.3 percent to $240.8 billion, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Transportation equipment, up five of the last six months, led the increase, $0.9 billion or 1.2 percent to $77.1 billion.
- Excluding transportation, new orders increased by 1.3 percent to $163.7 billion.
- New orders for capital goods increased by $2.2 billion or 2.7 percent to $83.2 billion.
This is the sixth consecutive monthly increase, placing new orders at only 0.3 percent below the same month a year ago. These results surpassed the consensus expectations of a 0.5 percent increase and shows that the economic recovery continues to have unexpected strength.