US durable goods orders fall in June

New orders for US big manufactured goods fell in June, due to a sharp drop in transport equipment and in particular civil aircraft, the Commerce Department has said.

Orders for so-called durable goods fell by $4bn (£2.4bn) or 2.1% to $192bn in the month.
An 8.5% or $4.2bn fall in transport goods orders accounted for the drop.
Together with ongoing concerns about the US debt ceiling, the figures helped push US markets lower.
The main Dow Jones index fell 110 points or 0.9% to 12,391 in early trading, dragging European markets down with it.
US lawmakers are currently at a stand-off in negotiations to raise the government debt ceiling.
Uncertainty Orders for commercial aircraft and parts slumped by almost 30%, while those for defence planes and parts fell 20%.
Excluding transport, new orders rose by 1%.
June is the second month in the past three months that durable goods orders have fallen, with analysts pointing to the disruption in supply chains caused by March's earthquake and tsunami in Japan as one cause.
Uncertainty over the outlook for the US economy is another, they say.

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