New orders for US manufactured durable goods fell 2.5% in June after two months of increases, amid weakness in defence and aircraft purchases.
Orders dropped $4.1 billion from May to $158.6 billion, the US Commerce Department reported.
The slump was steeper than the 0.6% decline expected, and followed a 1.3% rise in orders in May and a 1.4% rise in April.
Excluding defence, where orders have declined in nine of the past 11 months, durable goods orders fell 0.7% from May.
Orders for manufactured durable goods excluding transportation rose 1.1%.
Orders for durable goods excluding defence and aviation, which generally signal companies' investment in their means of production, climbed 1.4% in June, after leaping 4.3% in May.
Shipments of durable goods slipped 0.2%in June, after a steeper 2.6% decline in the preceding month.
