Orders for long-lasting manufactured goods rose more than expected in July, while shipments of business equipment surged, offering further evidence that the boom in capital spending and American manufacturing extended into the third quarter.
New orders for durable goods increased 1.1 percent in July to a seasonally adjusted $339.3 billion, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. Economists had forecast an increase of around 0.5 percent.
The increase was the fourth in five months and the strongest since April. The previously reported June increase was revised up to 0.5 percent from 0.3 percent.
Transportation equipment led the July advance, with orders rising 2.3 percent after declining in the previous two months. Orders for commercial aircraft and parts jumped 12.7 percent, defense-aircraft orders increased 4.9 percent, and motor-vehicle orders rose 0.9 percent.
The strength, however, extended beyond transportation. Orders excluding transportation increased 0.4 percent, marking the 15th consecutive monthly gain. Although that was below forecasts for a 0.6 percent increase, the uninterrupted expansion suggests demand for manufactured goods remains robust.
Through the first seven months of the year, orders excluding transportation were 9.2 percent higher than during the same period last year. Total durable-goods orders were up 7.6 percent.
Orders for primary metals rose 1.5 percent in July and were up 14.2 percent year-to-date. Machinery orders increased 1.2 percent and were 12.4 percent higher through July than a year earlier. Orders for fabricated-metal products advanced 0.4 percent and were up 8.9 percent year-to-date.
One of the most encouraging signs came from shipments, which measure goods that manufacturers have completed and sent to customers. Total durable-goods shipments increased 1 percent in July, their eighth consecutive monthly gain. Shipments excluding transportation rose 0.8 percent.
Shipments of nondefense capital goods excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending on equipment, jumped 1.4 percent. That followed a June increase that was revised up to 2.4 percent from 1.9 percent.
Core capital-goods shipments have risen nearly 4 percent over the past three months, equivalent to an annualized rate of around 16 percent. Because these shipments are used in calculating business equipment investment in gross domestic product, the figures point toward another strong contribution from capital spending in the third quarter.
Core capital-goods orders, which are regarded as a measure of companies’ plans for future investment, rose a more modest 0.2 percent in July, less than the 0.9 percent economists expected. Here again, revisions substantially improved the picture. June’s gain was nearly doubled to 1.7 percent from the initially reported 0.9 percent.
Core orders have now increased for three consecutive months and were 10 percent higher during the first seven months of the year than in the same period of 2025.
Some of the industries most closely associated with the technology and artificial-intelligence investment boom lost ground in July. Orders for computers and electronic products declined 1.1 percent, while shipments fell 1.2 percent.
Those declines look more like a breather than the beginning of a retrenchment. Computer and electronic-product orders had risen 3.1 percent in June and 1.1 percent in May. Even after the July pullback, orders in the category have increased about 3.1 percent over the past three months, an annualized pace of roughly 13 percent.
The longer-term comparisons are even stronger. Orders for computers and electronic products were up 14.3 percent through July compared with the same period last year. Within that category, orders for computers and related products were up 19.8 percent, while communications-equipment orders were up an extraordinary 35 percent.
Communications-equipment orders continued to rise in July, increasing 0.4 percent. Orders for computers and related products slipped just 0.3 percent.
The Commerce Department’s computer and electronics measure also provides only a partial picture of the technology boom. The department includes semiconductor shipments in the broader category but excludes semiconductor-industry data from its estimates of new orders.
Electrical equipment was another soft spot, with orders declining 0.4 percent in July. Yet orders in that category were still up 6.7 percent year-to-date, while shipments increased 0.1 percent during the month.
The July report follows government data showing that business investment was stronger than previously estimated during the second quarter. Nonresidential fixed investment rose at an annualized rate of 8.5 percent, including a 13.6 percent surge in spending on equipment.
The latest orders and shipments figures indicate that this strength carried into the opening month of the third quarter. Monthly orders inevitably fluctuate, especially in aircraft and technology-related industries. The broader pattern remains one of rising demand, expanding shipments and exceptionally strong investment in machinery, computers, communications equipment and other capital goods.
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