US durable goods orders jump 9.9% in July

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - US durable goods orders jumped 9.9% in July, up fifth time in the last six months, according to a report released Monday by the Commerce Department’s Census Bureau.

New orders for manufactured durable goods increased $26.1 billion to reach $289.6 billion, it said in a statement.

The market estimate was for the figure to show a monthly increase of 4%.

The figure for June, meanwhile, was revised from $264.5 billion to $263.6 billion, or from a decline of 6.6% to a decrease of 6.9%.

Excluding transportation, new orders in July decreased by 0.2%, the Census Bureau said, but new orders rose 10.4% when excluding defense.

"Transportation equipment, up two of the last three months, drove the increase, $26.4 billion or 34.8 percent to $102.2 billion," the statement said.