Durable Goods Orders Fall, Beat Estimates

New factory orders of durable goods fell just 0.5% in April according to government data release Wednesday, an improvement over the prior month and economists' expectations.

New orders fell $1.0 billion to $214.4 billion in April, the third straight month of decline, according to the Census Bureau. Economists had expected an overall decline of 1.5%, after March's 3% decline.

Factoring out transportation, however, durable goods orders actually increased 2.5%. Nondefense aircraft and parts orders, which declined 24.4% to $12.1 billion, transportation equipment, which fell 8% to $56.1 billion, and motor vehicles and parts, which fell 3.3% to $33.4 billion, were the biggest factors in the decline.

Major manufactures, however, like Boeing(BA Quote - Cramer on BA - Stock Picks) are dealing with record order backlogs and automakers like Ford(F Quote - Cramer on F - Stock Picks) and General Motors(GM Quote - Cramer on GM - Stock Picks) recently said production has been impacted by a strategy shift and a strike at a parts supplier, respectively.

New shipments increased 1.2% to $212.2 billion, vs. a 0.9% decline in March.