Durable goods orders rebounded better than expected in October, rising 3%.
The aircraft component, boosted by a jump in Boeing's 787 planes, lifted headline orders.
Core durable goods rose 0.5%, also topping forecasts. The data for the prior month were revised higher, although September remained negative, at -0.8%.
The rebound in durable goods orders, by $6.9 billion last month, followed two straight periods of declines.
Economists had estimated that orders for goods built to last over time rose 1.7%.
Excluding volatile transportation orders, the forecast for core durable goods was +0.3%.
"The trend in core capex orders is now clearly turning higher, following the collapse triggered by the rollover in oil companies' spending," wrote Pantheon Macroeconomics' Ian Shepherdson in a client note. "That's now over, and the underlying upward trend in place before the oil hit is re-emerging."
Pantheon Macroeconomics