US durable goods orders plummet 5.2% in July

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - US durable goods orders plummeted 5.2% in July, coming lower than market expectations, according to a report by the Commerce Department’s Census Bureau on Thursday.

New orders for manufactured durable goods fell $15.5 billion to $285.9 billion, the agency said. This marked the first decline after four consecutive monthly gains.

The estimate for the figure was to show a decrease of 4% in July.

The figure for June was revised downwards to a gain of 4.4%, from 4.7%, standing at $301.5 billion.

Excluding transportation, new orders climbed 0.5%, but new orders excluding defense declined 5.4%, according to the report.

"Transportation equipment, also down following four consecutive monthly increases, drove the decrease, $16.4 billion or 14.3 percent to $98.7 billion," it added.