U.S. durable goods orders excluding defense showed a marginal improvement in December, signaling tentative stabilization in core industrial demand. The indicator registered a month-over-month decline of 2.4% in December 2025, compared with a 2.5% drop in the previous month, according to data updated on 23 February 2026.
On a month-over-month basis, the “actual” figure for December reflects the change from November to December 2025, while the “previous” reading tracks the change from October to November 2025. The slightly smaller contraction suggests that while demand for defense-excluded durables remains under pressure, the pace of decline has eased fractionally heading into year-end.
Analysts monitoring core capital spending trends often look to durables excluding defense as a cleaner gauge of underlying business investment, since it strips out volatile government-related orders. The December data, however modest the improvement, may be interpreted as an early sign that the downturn in private-sector durable goods demand is losing some momentum.
