After a sharp increase in August, US durable goods orders dropped slightly in September. On a monthly basis, durable goods orders dropped by 0.1% M/M, while a decline by 0.2% M/M was forecast. The details show that weakness was based in transportation (-0.3% M/M) due to a sharp decline in orders for vehicles and parts (- 8.5% M/M), while nondefense aircraft orders jumped by 23.5% M/M. Also orders for primary metals (-0.8% M/M) and fabricated metals (-0.5% M/M) dropped in August. Orders for computers and electronics (1.3% M/M) and electrical equipment (1.3% M/M) rebounded and machinery orders increased slightly (0.1% M/M). Excluding transportation, durable goods orders dropped by 0.1% M/M. Shipments of nondefence capital goods excluding aircraft, which is an important indicator for GDP growth, rose sharply, by 2.8% M/M. The inventory/shipments ratio picked up from 1.80 to 1.82. While the headline figure looks weak, the details are not so bad with especially shipments of non-defence capital goods excluding aircraft posting a strong increase. Overall, the durable goods orders remain rather strong, which is remarkable compared to the business confidence indicators.