The U.S. Commerce Department reported on Friday that the durable goods orders rose 0.2 percent m-o-m in August, following a revised 2.0 percent m-o-m surge in July (originally a 2.1 percent m-o-m gain).

Economists had forecast a 1.0 percent m-o-m decrease.

According to the report, orders for durable goods excluding transportation increased 0.5 percent m-o-m, following a revised 0.5 percent m-o-m drop in July (originally a 0.4 percent m-o-m decline) and exceeding market expectations of 0.2 percent m-o-m gain.

Orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending plans, fell 0.2 percent m-o-m in August, after being unchanged m-o-m in July (revised from +0.2 percent m-o-m). Economists had called for no change in core capital goods orders in August.

Shipments of these core capital goods rose 0.4 percent m-o-m in August after an unrevised 0.6 percent decline m-o-m in the prior month.