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Durable goods orders and shipments rose in August after decreasing in July, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

Orders: New durable goods orders increased 0.2% last month following a 5.6% drop the previous month, rising to $284.75 billion from $284.29 billion.

• Excluding transportation equipment, new durable goods orders rose 0.4%, to a record $186.98 billion from $186.28 billion in July.
• Year over year, new durable goods orders have increased 3.5% in the past 12 months, or 1.1% excluding transportation equipment.
• Orders rose for the following: electrical equipment, appliances and components (up 1.1%), fabricated metal products (up 0.5%), machinery (up 0.5%), other durable goods (up 0.5%), computers and electronic products (up 0.3%) and motor vehicles and parts (up 0.3%).

Core capital goods orders: Orders for core capital goods—nondefense capital goods excluding aircraft, a proxy for U.S. capital spending—rose 0.9% in August, to a record high of $73.92 billion from July’s $73.25 billion.

• However, core capital goods orders have flattened out in recent months, having risen just 0.3% year over year.

Shipments: Durable goods shipments, meanwhile, increased 0.5% in August, to $284.59 billion from $283.15 billion in July.

• Excluding transportation equipment, durable goods shipments rose 0.3%, to a new high of $192.08 billion from $191.48 billion.

The last word: “The data continue to reflect lingering signs of resilience despite a challenging economic environment and an uncertain outlook,” said NAM Chief Economist Chad Moutray.