MarketWatch (08/26/14) Jeffrey Bartash

Orders for U.S. durable goods increased by a record 22.6% in July because of a surge in contracts for Boeing aircraft, but bookings actually fell for most other industries, the U.S. Department of Commerce reports. Economists polled by MarketWatch had expected durable-goods orders to surge by 12.6% after Boeing signed a record number of contracts for new jetliners in July. Demand for cars and trucks were also strong again, up 10.2%. Yet orders excluding the transportation sector actually fell 0.8% amid widespread weakness. Softening the blow of a generally weak July was a sharp upward revision in orders for June—to a 2.7% gain from a prior 1.7%.