United States Durable Goods Orders

New orders for manufactured durable goods in the US rose 3.1% month-over-month to $282.3 billion in January 2025, the most in six months and above market expectations of a 2% increase. It follows a downwardly revised 1.8% drop in December. The rebound was driven by transportation equipment, which surged 9.8%, particularly nondefense aircraft and parts (93.9%). Orders also rose for capital goods (10.7%), primary metals (1%), machinery (0.2%), computers and electronic products (1.7%), and electrical equipment, appliances, and components (0.1%). Excluding transportation, new orders were virtually unchanged. Excluding defense, new orders increased 3.5%. Meanwhile, orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending plans, rose 0.8% in January, above market expectations of a 0.3% increase.