---
title: Decline in US Durable Goods Orders for May 2017  — Mangum Economics
description: Often seen as a marker for business investment, U.S. durable goods orders fell for the second month in May 2017. According to  a report by the U.S. Commerce Department , durable goods (items meant to last a minimum of three years) fell 1.1 percent between April and May, dropping to $228.2 billion.
---

[News — Mangum Economics ](https://www.mangumeconomics.com/news)

# [Decline in US Durable Goods Orders for May 2017 — Mangum Economics](https://www.mangumeconomics.com/news/decline-in-us-durable-goods-orders-for-may-2017)

 Written by [Melissa Mangum](https://www.mangumeconomics.com/news/author/melissa-mangum) | Jun 26, 2017 4:00:00 AM

Often seen as a marker for business investment, U.S. durable goods orders fell for the second month in May 2017. According to [a report by the U.S. Commerce Department](https://www.census.gov/manufacturing/m3/adv/pdf/durgd.pdf), durable goods (items meant to last a minimum of three years) fell 1.1 percent between April and May, dropping to $228.2 billion.

May’s decline marks the largest drop in six months and is greatly attributed to a decrease in orders for aircraft. While previously a strength, aircraft orders have declined for the second time in two months with a 12 percent decrease in orders for commercial aircraft and a 31 percent decrease in orders for defense aircraft, a notoriously volatile category.

Core capital goods were another area of weakness in May with an unexpected 0.2 decline in both orders and shipments for this category.

In contrast, there was a 0.6 percent increase in machine orders, a 1.2 percent increase in vehicle orders, and a 0.8 percent gain in total shipments.

Excluding the category of transportation (which does not include aircraft), durable goods orders also rose very slightly, increasing by 0.1 percent/

While not completely negative, May’s readings point to a lack of confidence in business prospects in the United States.

Share

[View full post](https://www.mangumeconomics.com/news/decline-in-us-durable-goods-orders-for-may-2017)

```json
{
  "@context" : "http://schema.org",
  "@type" : "BlogPosting",
  "author" : {
    "@type" : "Person",
    "name" : "Melissa Mangum"
  },
  "dateModified" : "2025-11-10T16:43:07.294Z",
  "datePublished" : "2017-06-26T04:00:00Z",
  "headline" : "Decline in US Durable Goods Orders for May 2017",
  "image" : {
    "@type" : "ImageObject",
    "height" : 60,
    "url" : "/hs/hsstatic/content_shared_assets/static-1.4092/img/default-amp-logo.png",
    "width" : 60
  },
  "mainEntityOfPage" : "https://www.mangumeconomics.com/news/decline-in-us-durable-goods-orders-for-may-2017",
  "publisher" : {
    "@type" : "Organization",
    "logo" : {
      "@type" : "ImageObject",
      "height" : 60,
      "url" : "/hs/hsstatic/content_shared_assets/static-1.4092/img/default-amp-logo.png",
      "width" : 60
    },
    "name" : "News"
  }
}
```