The U.S. Commerce Department reported on Tuesday that the durable goods orders fell 1.6 percent m-o-m in February, following a revised 0.1 percent m-o-m gain in January (originally a 0.4 percent m-o-m advance).

Economists had forecast a 1.8 percent m-o-m decrease.

According to the report, transportation equipment drove the decrease. Meanwhile, orders for durable goods excluding transportation edged up 0.1 percent m-o-m, following an unrevised 0.1 percent m-o-m gain in January and missing market expectations of a 0.2 percent m-o-m gain.

Orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending plans, dropped 0.1 percent m-o-m in February, after increasing 0.9 percent m-o-m in January. Economists had forecast core capital goods orders unchanged in February.

Shipments of these core capital goods were also unchanged in February after a revised 1.0 percent m-o-m rise in the prior month (originally a 0.8 percent m-o-m increase).