WASHINGTON, Nov 22 — Orders for manufactured goods produced in the United States fell sharply in October, dragged down by a steep decline in transportation equipment orders, reversing an overall increase in September.

New orders for durable goods declined by 5.4 per cent in October from a month earlier to US$279.4 billion (RM1.3 trillion), according to revised Commerce Department data.

This was worse than the median forecast among economists surveyed by MarketWatch of a 3.4 per cent decline.

"In short, durable goods surprised to the downside in October,” High Frequency Economics Chief US Economist Rubeela Farooqi wrote in a note to clients.

She added that "companies continue to face headwinds from higher borrowing costs and tighter credit conditions that could weigh on activity.”

New orders for transportation equipment declined by 14.8 per cent. Excluding transportation, new orders were flat in October.

At the same time, orders for civilian aircraft fell sharply by 49.6 per cent — an expected reversal after a September bounce due to a large order of new planes by the budget airline Ryanair.

"Swings in civilian aircraft orders tell us little about the evolving path of overall business investment,” economists at Pantheon Macroeconomics wrote in an investor note ahead of the data release. — AFP