New orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods fell 3.7% to $239.72 billion in January from a downwardly revised $248.89 billion in December 2017, according to an advance report by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Transportation equipment led the decrease in new orders, dropping 10.0% to $77.72 billion from $86.35 billion in the month prior.
Shipments of manufactured durable goods rose 0.2% month on month to $247.0 billion, with transportation equipment gaining 0.5% to $81.32 billion.
Excluding transportation, new orders were 0.3% lower at $162.00 billion and shipments were up 0.1% at $165.68 billion.
After four consecutive monthly increases, unfilled orders for manufactured durable goods slipped 0.3% to $1.141 trillion in January. Transportation also led the decline, falling 0.5% to $771.76 billion.
Inventories rose 0.3% to $408.54 billion from $407.29 billion in December 2017, driven by transportation equipment, which increased 0.5% to $131.86 billion.
