Severe increase in new orders for durable consumer goods in July in the US

New orders for consumer durables in the United States reached $289.6 billion in July, up 9.9% from the previous month, according to a preliminary report released Monday by the U.S. Census Bureau. The increase was mainly due to orders for transportation equipment, which rose 34.8% to $102.2 billion. Excluding transportation equipment, new orders fell 0.2%, while excluding defense, they rose 10.4%. In addition, durable goods shipments increased 1.1% to $291.1 billion.