After reporting a spike in new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods in the previous month, the Commerce Department released a report on Wednesday showing durable goods orders pulled back by much more than expected in the month of October.<\/p>\n
The Commerce Department said durable goods orders plunged by 5.4 percent in October after jumping by a downwardly revised 4.0 percent in September. <\/p>\n
Economists had expected durable goods orders to tumble by 3.1 percent compared to the 4.6 percent surge that had been reported for the previous month.<\/p>\n
The sharp pullback in durable goods orders came as orders for transportation equipment plummeted by 14.8 percent in October after spiking by 11.6 percent in September.<\/p>\n
Orders for non-defense aircraft and parts led the pullback, diving by 14.8 percent in October after soaring by 11.6 percent in the previous month.<\/p>\n
Excluding the steep drop in orders for transportation equipment, durable goods orders were virtually unchanged in October after edging up by 0.2 percent in September. Ex-transportation orders were expected to inch up by 0.1 percent.<\/p>\n
Increases in orders for fabricated metal products and computers and electronic products were offset by decreases in orders for primary metals and electrical equipment, appliances and components.<\/p>\n