The U.S. Commerce Department reported on Thursday that the durable goods orders edged down 0.2 percent m-o-m in January 2020, following a revised 2.9 percent m-o-m surge in December 2019 (originally a 2.4 percent m-o-m climb).

Economists had forecast a 1.5 percent m-o-m decline.

According to the report, orders for durable goods excluding transportation jumped 0.9 percent m-o-m in January (fastest growth since April 2018), following a revised 0.1 percent m-o-m increase in December (originally a drop of 0.1 percent m-o-m) and beating market expectations of 0.2 percent m-o-m rise.

Meanwhile, orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending plans, surged 1.1 percent m-o-m in January (the largest gain since January 2019) after a revised 0.5 percent fall m-o-m in December (originally a 0.8 percent m-o-m drop). Economists had called for a 0.1 percent m-o-m uptick in core capital goods orders in January.

Shipments of these core capital goods climbed 1.1 percent m-o-m in January after an upwardly revised 0.1 percent m-o-m advance in the prior month (originally a 0.3 percent m-o-m decline).