New orders for manufactured durable goods increased 1.7% in August to $232.8 billion, following a 6.8% July decline, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Transportation equipment drove the increase, growing 4.9% to $77.4 billion over the month after a 19.6% July decline.
New orders excluding defense grew 2.2% on the month, while orders of nondefense capital goods jumped 4.7% to $80.0 billion.
Shipments of manufactured durable goods, rose 0.3% to $237.2 billion. This followed a 0.1% increase in July.
Inventories of manufactured durable goods continued to rise, growing 0.3% to $400.5 billion, following a 0.4% July increase and growth in thirteen of the last fourteen months.
Read the Census release.