Non-defence capital goods orders surge 1.6% in July

Washington

NEW orders for US manufactured capital goods rose for a second straight month in July as demand for machinery and a range of other products picked up, offering a tentative sign that a business spending downturn was starting to ease.

The economy also got a boost from another report on Thursday showing an unexpected drop in the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits last week.

The Commerce Department said non-defence capital goods orders excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending plans, increased 1.6 per cent last month, the largest gain since January. These so-called core capital goods orders advanced 0.5 per cent in June. July's rise marked the first back-to-back gain since January 2015. Econ…