Economists expected a slight rise in durable goods orders, but they were dragged down by the transportation sector and by capital goods in the defense sector, reports Joshua Kirby of The Wall Street Journal. He writes:
Orders for longer-lasting goods in the U.S. were unchanged in December, pointing to little movement in manufacturing as the year ended.
New orders for products meant to last at three years, such as appliances, computers, cars and other manufactured goods, were stable on month, adjusted seasonally, according to Commerce Department figures set out Thursday. […]
Orders were dragged by the transportation sector and by capital-goods in the defense sector. Sectors seeing a rise on orders included communications equipment and computers and electronic products.
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