The Commerce Department said new orders for manufactured durable goods in July increased $7.7 billion or 4% to $201.5 billion. This increase, up two of the last three months, followed a 1.3% June decrease and a 2.0% increase in May.
In a related story, economists polled by Reuters had expected orders to rise 2% last month.

New orders for transportation equipment, also up two of the last three months, had the largest increase, $6.7 billion or 14.6% to $53 billion after a decrease of 6.7% in June and a 5.8% increase in May.

Non-defense capital goods orders, excluding aircraft, a generally considered proxy for business spending, fell 1.5% in July after a revised 0.6% gain in June and 1.9% increase in May. Reuters notes that the decline in business spending comes on the heels of weak readings on regional factory activity so far this month, which could add to fears that the manufacturing sector is running out of steam.

To read the full text of the U.S. Department of Commerce news report click here.