WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) – In the USA, orders for durable goods did not fall as significantly as expected in December. Orders fell by 1.4 percent month-on-month, as the US Department of Commerce announced on Wednesday in Washington according to an initial estimate. Economists had expected an average decline of 2.0 percent. Orders had increased by a revised 5.4 (previously: 5.3) percent in the previous month.
Excluding transport goods such as aircraft, companies recorded a surprisingly high increase in orders of 0.9 percent in December. Economists had expected an increase of just 0.3 percent.
Orders for capital goods outside the military and aviation sectors also surprised positively with an increase of 0.6 percent. Analysts had only expected an increase that was half as high./la/jsl/jha/