The government report said that durable goods orders rose by 0.4 percent in April, which was the second weakest reading in seven months after a 0.6 percent gain in March.
Economists last month had forecast at 0.6 percent in durable goods orders compared to the 1.1 percent jump that had been expected for March.
The increase in durable goods orders was led by a rebound in orders for transportation equipment, which rose again by 0.6 percent in April after falling 0.3 percent in March.
Orders for cars slipped 0.2 percent, as automakers’ dependence on sporadic computer chip supplies to finish production on new vehicles was been hit hard by supply shortages in East Asia, despite strong customer demand.
Non-defense aircraft and parts orders soared by 4.3 percent in April following a massive 8.1 percent drop the previous month.
Excluding orders for the transportation sector, hard goods orders went up by 0.3 percent in April after a 1.1 percent surge in March.
There was a notable increase in contract orders for machinery, electronics, and key metals last month, while orders for fabricated metal products and computers, appliances, and components fell.
A rise in non-defense related capital goods orders excluding aircraft, which is a key indicator for business investment, was the most positive sign.
These so-called core orders increased by 0.3 percent in April after rising 1.1 percent in March.
Shipments for non-defense durable goods, a measure for investments in the industrial sector, went up by 0.8 percent in last after climbing 0.2 percent in March.
Despite the increased growth in shipments, concerns are looming over future business spending and manufacturing.
Business investment has increased 7.3 percent in the past year, though the rate of growth has steadily slowed since last summer.
Robust business investment in equipment helped keep domestic demand strong in the first quarter even as the economy contracted at a 1.4 percent annualized rate, after being weighed down by a record trade deficit.
American industries are still working at full capacity to meet strong customer demand, while investments in the sector remain robust, but growing inflation and higher interest rates are starting to hit margins.
Ongoing supply shortages are continuing to be a hindrance, especially regarding computer chips, which has worsened because of the recent lockdowns in China that delayed the shipment of goods overseas, while other signs are pointing to a slight erosion in demand.
An increase in core capital goods shipments for April, suggests that business spending will continue to grow, but probably below the 15.3 percent pace from the last quarter.
With the Federal Reserve’s aggressive new monetary policy raising interest rates sharply this year in order to cool demand and tame inflation, the U.S. economy is bound to slow.
The Fed has raised its policy interest rate by 75 basis points since March and is expected to hike the overnight rate by half a percentage point at each of its next meetings in June and July.
The central bank’s actions had sparked a sell-off on Wall Street earlier this month and boosted U.S. Treasury yields and the dollar.
Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs curbed its second-quarter GDP growth estimate by 0.1 percent to a 2.4 percent rate based on the data from the report.
Reuters has contributed to this report.
