U.S. durable goods orders increase in July

New orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods went up for two months in a row ending July, the U.S. Commerce Department reported Wednesday.

Orders for durable goods rose 2 percent in July from a month ago to 241.1 billion U.S. dollars. In June, the durable goods orders went up 4.1 percent.

Orders for transportation equipment led the increase, totaling 83.2 billion dollars, up 4.7 percent.

Excluding the volatile transportation sector, new orders for manufactured durable goods increased 0.6 percent last month, suggesting business investment is starting to pick up slowly. Enditem