U.S. durable goods orders fall more than expected in May

The U.S. Commerce Department reported on Wednesday that the durable goods orders fell 1.3 percent m-o-m in May, following a revised 2.8 percent m-o-m drop in April (originally a 2.1 percent m-o-m decline).

Economists had forecast a 0.1 percent m-o-m decrease.

According to the report, orders for transportation equipment (-4.6 percent m-o-m) drove the decrease, as orders for non-defense aircraft plunged 28.2 percent m-o-m. Meanwhile, orders for durable goods excluding transportation rose 0.3 percent m-o-m, following a revised 0.1 percent m-o-m drop in April (originally unchanged m-o-m) and beating market expectations of a 0.1 percent m-o-m gain.

Orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending plans, rose 0.4 percent m-o-m in May, after decreasing 1.0 percent m-o-m in April. Economists had forecast core capital goods orders advancing 0.1 percent m-o-m in May.

Shipments of these core capital goods went up 0.7 percent m-o-m in May after a revised 0.4 percent m-o-m gain in the prior month (originally flat m-o-m).