Durable goods orders in the United States rebounded in June from a sharp fall in May, boosted by a jump in defense aircraft orders, official data released Friday showed.
Durable goods orders rose 0.7 percent in June, after falling 1.0 percent in May, the Commerce Department said.
The June increase, the fourth in the past five months, was much stronger than the 0.3 percent rise expected by analysts, a positive sign of momentum in the manufacturing industry.
Excluding transportation, which tends to be volatile month-over-month, new orders rose 0.8 percent in June.
Orders for defense aircraft and parts had the biggest increase, up 15.3 percent from May. Nondefense aircraft orders rose 8.2 percent.
Machinery orders rose 2.4 percent and manufacturing orders gained 1.6 percent.
Offsetting the gains were automobile orders, which dropped 2.1 percent; computers, down 13.9 percent; as well as communications equipment, appliances and fabricated metal products.
Year-over-year, durable goods orders were up 3.9 percent.
"Smoothing out the results over three months, we're seeing the second straight month of double-digit annualized percentage changes," said Jennifer Lee of BMO Capital Markets.