US durable goods orders rise 1.8% in September to $345.4 billion

US new orders for manufactured durable goods rose 1.8% in September from August to $345.4 billion, seasonally adjusted, according to the Census Bureau's advance report.

What happened

The Census Bureau said new orders increased $6.3 billion to $345.4 billion in September, the sixth rise in the last seven months. The report is released at 8:30 a.m. ET, and the figures are adjusted for seasonal variation but not for price changes. August orders were revised to a 0.1% increase.

Excluding transportation, new orders increased 0.5%. Excluding defense, they increased 2.2%. Transportation equipment led the increase, rising $5.2 billion, or 4.6%, to $119.8 billion.

Orders for nondefense capital goods, a category that includes machinery and equipment that businesses buy, rose $6.3 billion, or 6.2%, to $107.8 billion. Defense capital goods orders fell $0.4 billion, or 1.8%, to $20.8 billion.

Shipments of durable goods rose 0.9% to $336.8 billion after a 0.2% decrease in August. Unfilled orders, the backlog of work not yet delivered, increased 0.8% to $1,623.6 billion. Inventories of durable goods rose 0.3% to $610.0 billion, the twelfth consecutive monthly increase.

Revised August figures for all manufacturing industries, including nondurable goods, put new orders at $664.9 billion, revised from $663.5 billion, and shipments at $659.5 billion, revised from $658.6 billion.

The Census Bureau said the estimates are not based on a probability sample, so their sampling error cannot be measured.

What to watch

The Census Bureau will publish revised and more detailed estimates, plus nondurable goods data, on November 3 at 10:00 a.m. ET. The advance report on durable goods for October is scheduled for November 25 at 8:30 a.m. ET, according to the same release.