Orders of major U.S. manufactured goods were virtually unchanged in December from a month earlier, government data showed Thursday, amid muted demand for some key goods.
New durable goods orders for November were revised slightly higher, the Commerce Department said in a statement.
The figure of $295.6 billion for December was almost flat from the new revised figures, and came in below the 0.1% increase expected by the financial markets, according to Briefing.com.
"Total durable goods orders rose by less than we expected in December," Pantheon Macroeconomics Senior U.S. Economist Kieran Clancy wrote in a note to clients.
He said the miss was "largely because the increase in civilian aircraft orders was much smaller than we anticipated."
"Demand for core capital goods remains weak," he added.
Primary metals orders, which have grown in three of the last four months, rose 1.4% last month, providing much of the positive push, the Commerce Department said.
However, that growth was counteracted by a drop in transportation and defense aircraft orders, which declined by 0.9 and 2.9%, respectively.
On an annual basis, durable goods orders rose by 4.4% last year, boosted by computers and transportation orders.
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