Orders for US durable goods drop sharply in February due to volatile jet orders

Orders for goods made to last more than three years dropped unexpectedly last month, albeit chiefly due to a large decline in the oft-volatile orders for civilian aircraft.

According to the US Department of Commerce, in seasonally adjusted terms, durable goods orders shrank at a month-on-month pace of 2.2% in February to reach $189.94bn.

Consensus had been for a fall of 0.5% on the month.

Nonetheless, versus a year ago, total durable goods orders were up by 14.2%.

Orders for machinery, primary metals and telecommunications equipment all displayed weakness.

But the main drag came from a 30.4% downdraft in orders of non-defence aircraft and parts.

Worth noting, demand for military aircraft did soar by 60.1% month-on-month to $4.67bn.

So-called core capital goods goods orders, which excludes those from the defence and civilian aviation sectors, dipped by just 0.3% versus January to reach $80.09bn.