New orders for durable goods declined 0.7% (+0.9% y/y) during April following a 2.3% March rise, revised from 0.7%. Earlier figures also were revised back to 2002. A 1.1% decrease in orders had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey.

The decline in durable good orders reflected a 1.2% fall in transportation bookings. They were pulled lower by a 9.2% drop (-27.5% y/y) in civilian aircraft orders. Defense aircraft orders gained 7.1% (-8.7% y/y) while motor vehicle & parts orders rose 0.3% (-0.0% y/y).

Electrical equipment orders fell 1.7% (+2.5% y/y) following two months of strong increase. Machinery orders also eased 0.8% (+7.0% y/y), but orders for computers & related products jumped 5.0% (-2.6% y/y). Communication equipment orders gained 4.2% (3.6% y/y). Primary metals orders eased 0.2% (+9.9% y/y) and fabricated metal orders declined 0.9% (+7.5% y/y).

Nondefense capital goods orders declined 1.9% (-2.6% y/y) while orders excluding aircraft remained steady (+2.9% /y) for the third straight month.

Shipments of durable goods edged 0.3% lower (+2.8% y/y) and excluding transportation, shipments were off 0.2% (+4.6% y/y). Backlogs of durable goods orders rose 0.2% (-1.4% y/y) while excluding transportation, unfilled orders increased 0.3% (2.8% y/y). Inventories of durable goods improved 0.1% (1.1% y/y). Inventories excluding the transportation sector increased 0.2% (2.7% y/y).

The durable goods figures are available in Haver's USECON database. The Action Economics consensus forecast figure is in the AS1REPNA database.