With orders for transportation equipment showing a notable pullback, the Commerce Department released a report on Wednesday showing that new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods unexpectedly decreased in the month of February.
The report said durable goods orders fell by 1.4 percent in February following a downwardly revised 2.0 percent increase in January.
The drop in orders came as a surprise to economists, who had expected orders to climb by 0.7 percent compared to the 2.8 percent jump that had been reported for the previous month.
Excluding a 3.5 percent drop in transportation orders, durable goods orders still fell by 0.4 percent in February after sliding by 0.7 percent in January. Ex-transportation orders had been expected to rise by 0.3 percent.
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