US durable goods orders fell -1.4% mom in December to USD 319.6B, slightly better than expectations for a -1.6% decline. The headline weakness was largely driven by transportation equipment, which dropped -5.3% mom to USD 113.5B and has now fallen in two of the past three months.
Stripping out transportation, however, the picture was stronger. Orders excluding transport rose 0.9% mom to USD 206.2B, well above expectations of 0.3%.
At the same time, orders excluding defense fell -2.5% mom to USD 298.4B, reflecting some softness in private-sector investment categories.
