Other reports showed new claims for jobless benefits rose moderately last week, suggesting the labor market was healing only slowly, while new US single-family home sales unexpectedly fell in December.

The Commerce Department said orders for durable goods climbed 3.0 percent last month, boosted by a surge in aircraft orders. Economists had forecast orders rising 2.0 percent.

"There's some momentum here," said Jacob Oubina, an economist at RBC Capital Markets in New York. "Heading into the first quarter, the momentum is going to be pretty decent."

Durable goods range from toasters to big-ticket items like aircraft which are meant to last three years and more.

The data suggested US companies could be growing more willing to invest the $2 trillion pile of cash they amassed in recent years. The US Federal Reserve warned on Wednesday that business investment had cooled.

Orders for capital goods outside defense and excluding aircraft, which are a proxy for business spending plans, climbed a steeper-than-expected 2.9 percent. They had declined the previous two months.

Also, shipments of orders within that category, which go into the calculation of gross domestic product, rose 2.9 percent after declining 1.0 percent in November.

The overall increase in orders was buoyed by an 18.9 percent jump in orders for civilian aircraft. Boeing received 287 orders for aircraft during the month, according to the plane maker's website, up from 96 in November.