A new government report shows new orders for durable goods grew sharply in July, with the increase more than double what was expected.
New orders for manufactured durable goods increased $26.1 billion or 9.9 percent to $289.6 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau announced on Monday.
This reverses a 6.9 percent decrease in June's revised number of $263.6 billion.
Excluding defense, new orders increased 10.4 percent.
Transportation equipment drove the increase by 34.8 percent. Excluding transportation, new orders decreased 0.2 percent.
New orders for manufactured durable goods have increased in five of the last six months.
