Durable-goods Orders Rise 0.4% In October, Boosted By Military Aircraft

Orders for durable U.S. goods rose a seasonally adjusted 0.4% in October, but the gain stemmed mostly from a 45% spike in bookings for military aircraft. Orders for commercial products and business investment were surprisingly weak, however. Orders minus transportation dropped 0.9% and bookings minus defense fell 0.6%, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. Orders for core capital goods - a measure of business investment - fell 1.3% for the second month in a row in a sign that companies might be paring back toward the end of the year. Shipments of core capital goods, a category used to calculate quarterly economic growth, fell 0.4% in October.

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