Investing.com - U.S. durable goods orders rose unexpectedly in July, while core orders topped forecasts, boosting optimism over the health of the economy and supporting the case for a U.S. interest rate hike this year, official data showed on Wednesday.
In a report, the U.S. Commerce Department said that total durable goods orders, which include transportation items, increased by a seasonally adjusted 2.0% last month, compared to expectations for a decline of 0.4%. Orders for durable goods in June were revised to a gain of 4.1% from a previously reported increase of 3.4%.
Durable goods are typically bulky or heavy products designed to last at three years, such as trains, planes and automobiles.
Core durable goods orders, excluding volatile transportation items, inched up by a seasonally adjusted 0.6%, topping forecasts for an increase of 0.4%. Core durable goods orders rose 1.0% in June, whose figure was revised from previously reported gain of 0.6%.
Orders for core capital goods, a key barometer of private-sector business investment, increased by 2.2% last month, above expectations for a 0.4% increase and following a gain of 1.4% in June.
Shipments of core capital goods, a category used to calculate quarterly economic growth, tacked on 0.6%, above forecasts for a 0.4% gain, after rising 0.9% in the preceding month.
EUR/USD was trading at 1.1362 from around 1.1385 ahead of the release of the data, GBP/USD was at 1.5574 from 1.5577 earlier, while USD/JPY was at 119.70 from 119.89 earlier.
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was at 94.96, compared to 94.82 ahead of the report.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a higher open. The Dow futures pointed to a gain of 2.1%, the S&P 500 futures jumped 2.1%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 2.3%.
Elsewhere, in the commodities market, gold futures traded at $1,127.80 a troy ounce, compared to $1,130.80 ahead of the data, while crude oil traded at $39.77 a barrel from $39.83 earlier.