Durable goods orders stalled out in July, in another sign that the economy is cooling, if not already in recession. Economists polled by the Wall Street Journal had expected 1 percent growth.

New orders for manufactured durable goods in July decreased less than $0.1 billion or virtually unchanged to $273.5 billion, according to a report released by the US Census Bureau today. This decrease, down following four consecutive monthly increases, followed a 2.2 percent June increase. 

• Excluding transportation, new orders increased 0.3 percent.
• Excluding defense, new orders increased 1.2 percent.

Transportation equipment, down following three consecutive monthly increases, drove the decrease, $0.6 billion or 0.7 percent to $93.0 billion.