New orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods pulled back sharply in the month of January, according to a report released by the Commerce Department on Monday.
The report said durable goods orders plunged by 4.5 percent in January after surging by a downwardly revised 5.1 percent in December.
Economists had expected durable goods orders to tumble by 4.0 percent compared to the 5.6 percent spike that had been reported for the previous month.
The steep drop by durable goods orders came as orders for transportation equipment plummeted by 13.3 percent in January after soaring by 15.8 percent in December.
Excluding orders for transportation equipment, durable goods orders climbed by 0.7 percent in January after falling by 0.4 percent in December. Economists had expected a 0.1 percent uptick.
