New orders for U.S. manufactured goods fell in November on a sharp decline in aircraft sales, ending a four-month streak of increases, the Commerce Department reported on January 6.
Orders saw their biggest monthly decline since December 2015, falling 2.4% to $458.3 billion and reversing much of the 2.8% gain recorded the prior month.
While the decline was expected, it was bigger than the analyst consensus which called for a decline of only 2.1%.
Durable goods orders did an about-face, falling 4.5% to $228.8 billion after posting a 5% gain in October.
Civilian aircraft and parts tumbled 73.8% to $5.7 billion, dragging down the transportation sector as a whole, which fell 13.2%.
Military aircraft and parts, however, more than doubled to $7.8 billion. Orders for cars, parts and trailers were up 1.3%.
Excluding the more volatile transportation sector, orders rose 0.1% to $381.6 billion, marking four straight months of increases but slowing decisively from October's 0.8% gain.
Manufacturers saw gains in civilian communications equipment, which rose 7.2%, and industrial machinery, up 10.8%.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2017
