October durable goods orders drop in October

Orders for goods made to last more than three years staged a big drop last month, but only because of a downdraft in those for civilian aircraft and parts.

According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, in seasonally adjusted terms durable goods orders fell by an outsized 5.4% month-on-month to reach $279.44bn (consensus: -3.7%).

But that was only due to a 49.6% drop in the often volatile category of non-defence aircraft and parts orders to $16.15bn.

When the entire transportation sector was excluded then orders were flat on the month (consensus: 0.1%).

Motor vehicles and parts orders also declined significantly, shrinking by 3.8% to $59.4bn.

So-called core capital goods orders excluding aircraft and defence meanwhile ticked lower by a tenth of a percentage point in comparison to September.

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