--US July durable goods orders -0.6%; ex-transportation -1.4%
--US July transportation equipment orders +1.3%
--US July motor vehicle orders +3.8%, aircraft and parts -6.9%
--US July computers and electronic equipment orders -4.4%
--US July semiconductors orders -26.0%, communication tools +18.3%
--US July fabricate metal products +0.9%; machinery -3.0%
--US July durable goods shipments +0.2%; inventories -0.6%
--US June durable goods orders revised to -2.6%, from -1.7%

By Andrew Williams
Washington, Aug. 24 (BridgeNews) - Despite signs of strength in demand for motor vehicles, defense capital goods and communications equipment, new orders for durable goods dropped again in July, falling 0.6%, after slipping a revised 2.6% in June, the Commerce Department said Friday. The decline in orders was not as sharp as the 1.0% drop expected by Wall Street analysts. Excluding transportation, durable goods orders fell 1.4% in July.
Forecasts for July durable goods among analysts surveyed by BridgeNews ranged from down 2.0% to up 0.5%.
Buttressing overall orders was a 1.3% gain in transportation orders. Orders for motor vehicles and parts jumped 3.8%. Nevertheless, orders for aircraft and parts slid 6.9%, offsetting some of the strength in the auto sector.
Orders for defense capital goods were also strong, increasing 15.6% in July. Excluding defense orders, overall new orders were down 1.0%, Commerce said.
In another sign of strength, orders for communications equipment rose 18.3%, marking the first increase since March and the strongest since June 2000. But orders for semiconductors plummeted 26.0%, leaving orders for overall computer and electronic products down 4.4%.
In other sectors, new orders for primary metals dropped 1.6%, orders for fabricated metal products rose 0.9% and machinery orders fell 3.0%. Orders for non-defense capital goods, considered a barometer of future capital spending, fell 1.9%, while shipments of non-defense capital goods fell 1.7%. These shipments indicate trends in capital spending and the contribution of producers' durable equipment purchases to economic growth. Shipments of durable goods--which have a life of more than three years--rose 0.2%, while unfilled orders fell 1.0%.

INVENTORIES DOWN SIXTH CONSECUTIVE MONTH
In July, inventories at durable goods producers fell 0.6%, after falling a revised -1.1% in June. That marks the sixth consecutive month of inventory contraction.