By Ovunc Kutlu
ISTANBUL (AA) - US durable goods orders jumped 4.7% in June, coming much higher than market expectations, according to a report by the Commerce Department’s Census Bureau on Thursday.
New orders for manufactured durable goods rose $13.6 billion to reach $302.5 billion, the agency said. This marked the fourth consecutive monthly gain.
Market expectations for durable goods orders pointed to an increase of 1%, while the May figure was revised upwards to a gain of 2% from 1.7%.
Excluding transportation, new orders climbed 0.6%, while new orders excluding defense rose 6.2%, according to the report.
"Transportation equipment, also up four consecutive months, led the increase, $12.4 billion or 12.1 percent to $115.3 billion," it added.