New orders for manufactured durable goods in August, up six of the last seven months, increased $0.1 billion or virtually unchanged to $289.7 billion, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. This followed a 9.9% July increase. Excluding transportation, new orders increased 0.5%. Excluding defense, new orders decreased 0.2%. Electrical equipment, appliances and components, up two of the last three months, drove the increase, $0.3 billion or 1.9% to $14.4 billion.