Expectations are for the report to show orders fell 0.4% month-on-month in July after a 3.4% uptick in June.
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Omitting autos and aircraft, whose bookings are unpredictable from month to month, orders minus transportation rose a smaller 0.6% in July.
Still, business investment remains relatively soft, down 3.8% from a year earlier. Improvement in the manufacturing sector has been choppy as a strong dollar has made U.S.-produced goods more expensive for overseas buyers.
As usual, the capital goods orders nondefense ex-aircraft component is the main component to watch. That was on top of an upwardly revised 1.4 percent increase in June. July’s rise of 2.2% was the largest increase since June 2014. Separately, the nation’s largest aircraft manufacturer, Boeing Co. said it received fewer orders for planes in July than June.
Net of the anticipated strength in transport orders, durable goods bookings are expected to accelerate slightly, rising by 0.7% and eclipsing the 0.6%prior-month advance, says Societe Generale in a research note. Excluding defense, another volatile sector, orders rose 1%. That was much stronger than the seasonally adjusted 0.6% decline forecast by economists polled by MarketWatch.
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While U.S. companies continue to spend and invest at measured pace, executives are carefully watching events in China and elsewhere to gauge whether the global economy is likely to slow further.
