US durable goods orders surged 2.9% mom to USD 312.1B in August, far stronger than the expected -0.5% mom contraction. Excluding transportation, orders still rose 0.4% mom to USD 201.9B, beating forecasts for a small decline of -0.1% mom. Ex-defense orders climbed 1.9% mom to USD 290.7B.
The headline gain was led by a 7.9% mom jump in transportation equipment to USD 110.2B, but the breadth of gains pointed to firm underlying demand.
