U.S. durable goods orders fall

The U.S. Commerce Department reported Wednesday that orders for durable goods fell in June, suggesting that manufacturing growth is slowing.

Orders fell by one per cent from May, short of the one per cent gain economists polled by Thomson Reuters had forecast.

Orders dipped 0.6 per cent when the volatile transportation sector was excluded. Economists had expected a small gain.

The largest decline was in transportation equipment but computers and electronics as well as primary metals also decreased.

Martin Schwerdtfeger, an economist with TD Economics, said the disappointing results in durable goods orders over the last two months are "tempered by the gains observed on the previous five months."

Still, he said, unless the pace of orders picks up, "it would take 29 months to reach (their) pre-recession peak."

Durable goods are big-ticket products expected to last at least three years and are closely watched as an indicator both of strong consumer spending and capital investment by companies.