Durable goods orders fall 5 straight months

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New orders for long-lasting manufactured goods dropped 2.6 percent in December, falling for a fifth straight month, according to a report on Thursday that underscored the deepening economic malaise.

Durable goods orders for November were revised to show a decline of 3.7 percent, the Commerce Department said, which was previously reported as a 1.5 percent fall. For 2008, overall orders tumbled 5.7 percent, the second biggest decline since 2001, after rising 1.3 percent in 2007.

New orders excluding transportation dropped 3.6 percent in December, but transportation equipment rose 0.6 percent, while motor vehicles and parts plunged 5.2 percent.

Non-defense capital goods orders excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending, fell 2.8 percent in December. The previous month was revised to show a 1.7 percent increase, from a 3.9 percent rise reported before.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected overall orders to fall 2 percent in December, and ex-transportation to drop 2.7 percent.

(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Neil Stempleman)