Washington (AFP) - US orders for durable goods fell in May following three months of gains, driven by a sharp monthly fall in defense goods, Commerce Department data showed Wednesday.

New orders for durable goods fell by $2.4 billion , or 1.0 percent, last month from April, when new orders had risen 0.8 percent.

Nearly all of the fall was in defense goods, and secondly, civilian aircraft.

Orders for defense goods were down $4.0 billion, or 31.4 percent, and civilian aircraft orders fell by $620 million. Both are key but often very volatile components of the total.

Offsetting those were a 2.1 percent rise in orders for automobiles and auto parts, and gains in orders for primary and fabricated metals.

Year-on-year, new orders continued to grow steadily, up 4.2 percent from May 2013.

Pantheon Macroeconomics economist Ian Shepherdson said the details of the data show an overall strong trend in the manufacturing sector and a solid rebound from the 2.9 percent contraction in the economy in the first quarter, blamed in part on extremely harsh winter weather.

"The key number in the report -- orders for non-defense capital equipment, ex-aircraft -- rose 0.7 percent," he pointed out.

"Even if this is unchanged in June, the quarter as a whole will be up 10 percent annualized, the best since Q1 2013."