New orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods fell 4.5% in May to $332.1 billion, meeting or slightly exceeding consensus forecasts of a 4.5% to 5.0% decline. The headline drop follows an upwardly revised 8.5% surge in April and was primarily driven by a 14.0% plunge in volatile transportation equipment orders.
However, underlying investment demand showed unexpected strength. Orders excluding transportation rose 1.3%, significantly outperforming the 0.6% growth expected by analysts. Additionally, non-defense capital goods orders excluding aircraft—a proxy for business spending—jumped 1.6%, well above the 0.6% estimate. The US Dollar Index remained largely stable near 101.5 following the report, as investors focused on the robust core data despite the headline pullback.