MarketWatch (08/24/12) Jeffrey Bartash

Manufacturers’ orders for durable goods increased by 4.2% last month to a seasonally adjusted $230.73 billion, the U.S. Department of Commerce reported today. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had expected orders for durable goods to climb 3.0%. Bookings for transportation equipment, a particularly volatile category, shot up 14.1% last month, as Boeing received its biggest batch of orders since last December. Yet omitting the transportation sector, orders fell 0.4% and declined for the second month in a row. Orders for core capital goods excluding defense and transportation, a key barometer of U.S. business spending, dropped a sharp 3.4% last month.