Investing.com - Orders for durable goods rose unexpectedly in January, thanks largely to a 15.9% jump in orders for aircraft, according to data released on Wednesday.
Overall durable-goods orders increased 0.4% last month, the Commerce Department said. Economists had forecast a drop of 0.5%.
But excluding the volatile transportation sector, orders inched down 0.1%, confounding expectations for a gain of 0.1%.
A key measure of business investment, meanwhile, rose in January. Orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending plans, increased by 0.8% from a month earlier.