New orders for US-manufactured durable goods rose by 1.1% month-over-month to $339.3 billion in July 2026, following an upwardly revised 0.5% increase in June and overshooting market forecasts of a 0.5% advance. This marked the strongest increase since April, mainly due to higher orders for transportation equipment (2.3%), primarily nondefense (12.7%) and defense aircraft and parts (4.9%). Solid increases were also seen for capital goods (1.3%), primary metals (1.5%) and machinery (1.2%). Excluding transportation, durable goods orders rose 0.4%, after an upwardly revised 1.1% growth in June and missing market estimates of a 0.6% gain. Meanwhile, orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending plans, went up by 0.2%, following an upwardly revised 1.7% rise in June and below forecasts of 0.9%.