The US Census Bureau reported Wednesday that shipments of manufactured durable goods increased $2.6 billion, or 1.3 percent, in October to $203 billion, after a 0.5 percent September decrease. Transportation equipment had the largest monthly increase, jumping 5.2 percent in October. Additionally, primary metals shipments rose 3 percent last month and shipments of fabricated metal products slipped 0.2 percent.
As for new orders of manufactured durable goods in October, transportation equipment registered the most significant decrease, falling 4.8 percent compared to September. The drop in new orders for transportation equipment dragged down the overall decline in new orders in October, which fell 0.7 percent, or $1.4 billion, to $197.7 billion. Excluding transportation, new orders increased 0.7 percent. Similar to the shipment data, new orders of primary metals rose 3 percent in October while new orders for fabricated products fell 0.3 percent.