(March 26): Orders placed with US factories for business equipment unexpectedly declined in February, suggesting some companies are limiting investment as they await specifics on tariffs and tax policy.

The value of core capital goods orders, a proxy for investment in equipment excluding aircraft and military hardware, decreased 0.3% last month, the first drop since October, Commerce Department figures showed Wednesday. The data aren’t adjusted for inflation.

Bookings for all durable goods — items meant to last at least three years — rose 0.9%. Excluding transportation equipment, orders increased 0.7%.

Though many businesses are still committed to making long-term investments, they face uncertainty about President Donald Trump’s vacillating tariffs and questions about tax-cut legislation that has caused consumer confidence to plummet and led to a stock-market rout.

Core capital goods shipments, a figure that is used to help calculate equipment investment in the government’s gross domestic product report, rose 0.9%, the most in a year. Before the report, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s GDPNow forecast penciled in a healthy increase in business equipment spending for the first quarter.

The Commerce Department’s durable goods report showed commercial aircraft bookings, which are volatile from month to month, dropped 5% after nearly doubling in January. Boeing Co reported 13 orders in February, down from 36 a month earlier.

While often helpful to compare the two, aircraft orders are volatile and the government data don’t always correlate with the planemaker’s monthly figures.

Recent purchasing managers surveys illustrate a manufacturing sector struggling for momentum amid the economic uncertainty and a rise in materials prices. The S&P Global manufacturing index slipped back into contraction territory this month.

Uploaded by Magessan Varatharaja