New orders for key U.S.-made capital goods increased solidly in August, keeping business spending on equipment on track for another quarter of strong growth.

According to the Commerce Department, orders for non-defense capital items excluding aircraft rose 0.5% in August. This closely monitored indicator of business spending plans is reported by Getty Images. The so-called core capital good orders increased 0.3% in July.

Reuters polled economic experts and found that they had predicted core capital good orders rising 0.4%.