New orders at U.S. factors rose a smaller-than-expected 1.2 percent in June as orders outside transportation and defense were weak, a government report showed on Thursday.
Wall Street analysts polled by Reuters were expecting a 1.8 percent rise in factory orders.
After stripping out transportation, factory orders rose a scant 0.1 percent, the weakest showing since a 2.5 percent drop in February.
Excluding defense, factory orders gained 0.3 percent.
Transportation equipment orders. rose 7.4 percent, boosted by a 6.8 percent gain in non-defense aircraft and parts and a 10.7 percent rise in defense aircraft.
However, machinery orders, one of the bigger categories in the report, fell 0.5 percent and electrical equipment orders dropped 0.9 percent.
Gains in non-defense capital goods orders excluding aircraft, seen by economists as a guide to the health of U.S. business spending, slowed to a 0.4 percent rise after a 1.3 percent climb in May.
In a sign of some manufacturing resilience ahead, unfilled orders for items meant to last more than three years rose 1.6 percent, the thirteenth gain in the last fourteen months. However, inventories for these durable goods rose for the fifth time in the last six months.