New orders for US-manufactured durable goods jumped by 7.9% from the previous month to $346 billion in April 2026, after an upwardly revised 1.3% rise in the prior month and largely beating forecasts of a 3.5% advance. This marked the strongest increase in new orders since May 2025, mainly reflecting higher demand for transportation equipment (+21.5%), particularly nondefense aircraft and parts (+165.9%); and capital goods (21%). Orders also increased for fabricated metal products (3.5%); primary metals (1.9%) and machinery (0.5%), but fell for computer and electronic products (-0.7%). Excluding transportation, new orders rose by 1.1%, the same pace as in March; while excluding defense, they surged by 8.1%, after a 0.3% decline previously. Meanwhile, orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending plans, fell by 1.1%, following a 3.9% rise in the prior month.