US durable good orders unexpectedly fall in September

Durable goods orders decreased by 1.3% in September to reach $241.63bn, according to the US Department of Commerce.

The consensus forecast had been for an increase of 0.4% month-on-month.

Versus a year ago they were higher by 7.6%.

Civilian aircraft orders decreased 16.1% to reach $15.26bn.

Orders for computers and related products also registered a large drop, declining by 2.5% over the month to $22.32bn.

However, excluding the transportation sector orders decreased by 0.6% versus August, instead of the 0.6% increase foreseen.

Core orders for capital goods, which exclude those for aircraft and defense, fell by 1.7%.

Commenting on the above figures analysts at Capital Economics said: "the three-month-on-three-month annualised rate of growth [in core capital goods shipments] actually accelerated to 11.1% last month, from 9.5%. The latter explains why we think the GDP figures will show a similarly upbeat gain in business investment in equipment.