Washington, DC, March 28, 2007--Orders for durable goods climbed 2.5% in February as defense and non-defense aircraft orders bounced back following big declines to start off the year, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday.
Excluding transportation orders, however, orders for big-ticket items declined by 0.1% last month, the agency's data showed.
The rise in orders for durable goods was mostly powered by an 88.4% increase in orders for non-defense aircraft, eclipsing a big drop of 60.4% in January. In a similar vein, orders for defense aircraft and parts rose by 29.2% in February after falling by 58.8% in January.
Economists had been expecting durable-goods orders to rise by 3.8% in February after falling by a revised 9.3% in January.
Durable goods are manufactured goods designed to last three years or longer. Because of that durability, orders and shipments of these items are typically very sensitive to the ups and downs of the business cycle, adding to their value as an indicator of economic activity.
Orders for core capital equipment -- the kind of goods that producers invest in to build their output capacity -- fell 1.2% in February. Shipments of core capital goods rose 1.2%.
Shipments of durable goods overall fell by 0.8% in February.
Inventories rose 0.2% in February.
February's orders for transportation goods rose 9.6%, as civilian airplane orders jumped 88.4% and orders for motor vehicles increased 1.3%.
Orders for defense aircraft moved 29.2% higher. Shipments of transportation goods fell 0.3%.
