Orders for durable goods fell in September paced by declines in orders for transportation equipment.
Orders totaled $248.2 billion, down 1.1 percent from August, the U.S. Commerce Department said in a monthly report. The decline snapped a streak of three consecutive monthly increases.
Leading the results was a 2.7 percent decrease in orders of transportation equipment. Orders for that category totaled $84.5 billion, down from an adjusted $86.8 billion in August. Excluding transportation, durable goods orders fell only 0.3 percent
Within transportation, orders for commercial aircraft and parts plunged 12 percent to $7.99 billion in September, down from $9.06 billion the month before.
Orders for motor vehicles and parts slid 1.6 percent to $60.4 billion in September, down from $61.4 billion in August. The one bright spot in transportation was military aircraft and parts, which posted a 6.3 percent monthly increase to $5.7 billion.
Chicago-based Boeing Co. has cut back deliveries of commercial aircraft while its 737 Max plane is grounded by regulators. Boeing is working on a software fix to try to get the 737 Max back in the air. Sales of light vehicles have slowed this year after four consecutive years of deliveries of 17 million or more.
In other categories:
--Orders for fabricated metal products declined 1.5 percent to $33.8 billion.
--Orders for machinery rose 0.2 percent to $32.7 billion.
--Orders for primary metals gained 0.3 percent to $20.7 billion.
The report is based on a survey of about 3,100 companies
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