US government figures show that new orders for long-lasting manufactured goods surged in July on strong demand for transport equipment, but a measure of business spending fell.
The Commerce Department said durable goods orders jumped 4% after a 1.3% drop in June. Economists had expected orders to rise 2% last month.
Though durable goods orders are extremely volatile, the data eased fears the economy was slipping back into recession, after a raft of weak sentiment surveys.
Orders last month were buoyed by a 14.6% jump in bookings for transport equipment, the largest increase since January.
Excluding transport, orders rose 0.7% after gaining 0.6% in June and confounding economists' expectations for a 0.5% fall.
But non-defence capital goods orders excluding aircraft, a closely watched indicator of business spending, fell 1.5% last month after a revised 0.6% rise in June.
The decline in business spending plans, coming on the heels of weak readings from regional factory surveys so far this month, could add to fears that the manufacturing sector is running out of steam. But this business spending figure normally weakens in the first month of each quarter for technical reasons.
