WASHINGTON, Oct 27 (AFP) - Orders for "big-ticket" durable US goods rose by a weaker than expected margin in September, hit by plummeting aircraft demand, government figures showed Wednesday.
Orders for durable goods -- items designed to last at least three years -- climbed 0.2 percent in September after sliding 0.6 percent in August, the Commerce Department said.
Many Wall Street analysts had forecast a gain of 0.5 percent.
Weakness across the transport industry proved a drag: orders plummeted 16.3 percent for civilian planes, plunged 8.6 percent for war planes, and fell 1.7 percent for motor vehicles.
Stripping out transport industries, however, durable goods orders were up 1.7 percent.
A breakdown showed:
-- Computers and electronic products orders surged 9.3 percent -- the sharpest increase since March 2000 -- as communication equipment orders soared 35.6 percent and computer orders increased 3.9 percent.
-- Capital goods orders rose 3.5 percent, including a 26.5-percent surge in defense capital goods orders and a 0.6-percent increase in civilian capital goods orders.
-- Electrical equipment and appliance orders fell 4.8 percent.
-- Machinery orders rose 2.9 percent.
-- Primary metals orders dropped 2.2 percent and fabricated metal product orders declined 2.0 percent.
"Capital equipment spending for machinery and computers drove growth in manufacturing durable goods orders in September," said Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI chief economist Daniel Meckstroth.
"Machinery orders are up 19 percent this year versus one year ago and demonstrate that business is confident enough about the outlook to replace and expand their productive capacity," he added.
"The September advance report on durable goods is comforting news amid the worries over high oil prices and natural disasters that dominated the news during that month."
A closely watched guide to business investment plans -- non-military capital goods orders, excluding aircraft -- advanced 2.6 percent.
Shipments of durable goods from factories dropped 1.2 percent.
Unfilled orders, a guide to future activity, rose 0.7 percent to the highest level since May 2001.
10/27/2004 13:32 GMT - AFP