New orders for manufactured durable goods in May, up four consecutive months, increased $0.3 billion or 0.1 percent to $283.1 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau announced today. This followed a 0.2 percent April increase. Excluding transportation, new orders decreased 0.1 percent. Excluding defense, new orders decreased 0.2 percent. Transportation equipment, up three of the last four months, drove the increase, $0.5 billion or 0.6 percent to $95.4 billion.