By Ovunc Kutlu
ISTANBUL (AA) - US durable goods orders increased 0.2% in August, beating expectations, according to a report by the Commerce Department’s Census Bureau on Wednesday.
New orders for manufactured durable goods rose $0.5 billion to $284.7 billion, said the agency, noting they increased for the fifth time in the past six months.
The estimate for the figure was to show a decrease of 0.5%.
The figure for July was revised to a decrease of 5.6%, from 5.2%, standing at $284.3 billion.
Excluding transportation, new orders climbed 0.4%, but new orders excluding defense declined 0.7%, according to the report.
"Machinery, up four of the last five months, led the increase, $0.2 billion or 0.5 percent to $37.8 billion," it added.