US durable goods orders fall by more than expected in July

Orders in the US for goods made to last more than three years dropped sharply last month more than undoing a similarly large spike in June.

A very large fall in the volatile category of civilian aircraft and parts orders accounted for the bulk of the decline.

In total, durable goods orders shrank by 6.8% month-on-month in July to reach $229.2bn, according to the Department of Commerce, versus economists' forecasts calling for a decline of 5.7%.

Yet in year-on-year terms new orders rose by 5.0%.

Transportation orders were weakest on the month, shrinking by 19% to $74.3bn as orders for non-defence aircraft and parts retreated by 70.7% to $7.37bn after jumping by 129% in the prior month.

Excluding transportation, orders rose by 0.5% to $154.8bn, amid moderate gains in orders for fabricated metals and computers and electronic products.

Versus the June, those categories of items saw increases of 1.0% to $32.8bn and 1.6% to $22.35bn, respectively.

Orders for non-defence capital goods excluding aircraft - a key indicator of underlying demand for investment goods - increased by 0.4% on the month to $63.7bn and were up by 0.3% on the year.