Fired-up demand for new warplanes boosted new orders for "big ticket" durable goods from US factories in June, government figures showed Wednesday.Orders for durable goods -- items expected to last at least three years -- rose a seasonally adjusted 0.7 percent in June from the previous month, the Commerce Department said.
The modest improvement disappointed private economists, who had generally been predicting a gain of 1.5 percent in June after a 0.9 percent drop in new orders in May.
New orders for military aircraft shot up 79.1 percent, by itself enough to account for the overall advance in new orders for the month.
A breakdown showed:
-- Orders for transportation equipment surged 4.2 percent including the boom in warplanes, an 8.0 percent decline in civilian aircraft orders and a 1.3 percent advance in motor vehicle orders.
-- Capital goods orders rose 4.1 percent, including a 30.4 percent jump in defense capital goods and a 1.1 percent advance in civilian capital goods orders.
-- A barometer of business investment plans -- civilian capital goods orders excluding volatile aircraft orders -- rose 1.2 percent.
-- Computer and electronic product orders slid 1.0 percent.
-- Fabricated metal product orders gained 3.3 percent.
Shipments of durable goods rose 0.7 percent, reversing a decline of 0.6 percent the previous month.
Unfilled orders for durable goods rose 0.6 percent.
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