US durable goods orders fall 4.5% in January

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - US durable goods orders fell 4.5% in January, down for the second time in the last three months, according to official data released Monday.

New orders for manufactured durable goods dropped $13 billion to $272.3 billion, the US Commerce Department’s Census Bureau said in a report.

The figure for December was revised downwards from a gain of 5.6% to a 5.1% increase.

The market estimate for the figure was to show a decline of 4% in January.

"Excluding defense, new orders decreased 5.1 percent. Transportation equipment, also down two of the last three months, drove the decrease, $14.2 billion or 13.3 percent to $92.8 billion," the report said.