Durable goods orders up 5.5 percent in May

New orders for manufactured durable goods in May increased $11.0 billion or 5.5 percent to $210.7 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau announced today. This followed a 1.4 percent April increase. Excluding transportation, new orders decreased 0.2 percent, the third decline in the last four months for durable goods orders outside transportation.

Transportation equipment, up for the second consecutive month, had the largest increase, $11.3 billion or 21.2 percent to $64.7 billion. This was led bynondefense aircraft and parts, which increased $11.6 billion.

Orders excluding defense goods rose 5.3 percent, outpacing analysts' forecasts of a 1.9 percent increase.

Revised seasonally adjusted April figures for all manufacturing industries are: new orders, $382.7 billion (revised from $383.6 billion); shipments, $390.7 billion (revised from $390.9 billion); unfilled orders, $553.2 billion (revised from $554.0 billion); and total inventories, $484.9 billion (revised from $485.2 billion).