Orders for aircraft and autos boosted demand for long-lasting U.S. manufactured goods in July.

Wednesday's report from the Commerce Department says “durable goods” orders jumped 4 percent for the month, a big change from the previous month's decline.

The gains were partly due to automakers overcoming the shortage of parts from Japanese factories damaged by the recent natural disasters there.

Outside the volatile areas of autos and aircraft, overall business investment declined 1.5 percent.

Manufacturing has been helping the overall U.S. economy recover.