New orders for durable goods fell 0.6% during May (+9.2% y/y) following a 1.0% April decline, revised from -1.7%. A 0.7% drop had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. During the last three months, orders have risen at a 4.5% annual rate, down from the 13.8% pace as of February.

A 1.0% decline (+12.1% y/y) in transportation equipment orders weakened the overall orders figure as it followed a 6.1% April shortfall. Aircraft & parts orders declined 1.4% following a 24.5% drop. Orders for motor vehicles and parts also were weak and fell 4.2% (+1.2% y/y). Excluding the transportation sector altogether, durable goods orders fell 0.3% (+7.8% y/y) following a 1.9% gain, revised from 0.9%. During the last three months these orders have risen at an 8.6% annual rate.

Orders for nondefense capital goods fell 2.0% (+10.5% y/y) after a 6.5% April decline. Orders excluding aircraft eased 0.2% (+6.1% y/y) after a 2.3% gain. Defense capital goods orders increased 15.1% (41.3% y/y) following an 8.8% rise.

Within the other durable goods sectors, electrical equipment bookings fell 1.5% (+5.2% y/y) and followed three months of strong increase. Fabricated metals orders were off 1.2% (+10.8% y/y) following a 3.3% gain. Orders for primary metals slipped 0.4% (+18.1% y/y), also following three months of material improvement. Computer & electronic equipment orders slipped 0.1% (+8.3% y/y) following a 1.9% rise. Orders for computers & related products, however, declined 1.1% (-12.7% y/y) after a 5.9% rise. Machinery orders improved 0.3% (3.2% y/y) after a 1.7% rise.

Shipments of durable goods eased slightly (+5.6% y/y) following stability in April. Shipments excluding transportation equipment were little changed (7.4% y/y). Unfilled durable orders rose 0.5% (4.6% y/y), up for the fourth consecutive month. Backlogs excluding the transportation sector gained 0.5% (5.2% y/y). Durable goods inventories increased 0.3% (5.0% y/y) for the second straight month. Inventories outside of the transportation sector rose 0.2% (5.7% y/y), the weakest increase since December 2016.

The durable goods figures are available in Haver's USECON database. The Action Economics consensus forecast figure is in the AS1REPNA database.