New orders for durable goods were flat last month, the Census Bureau reports. That follows a strong 9.2% gain in September. Stripping out the volatile transport sector, however, reveals that new orders jumped a respectable 1.5% in October. Meantime, business investment gained some ground last month, with new orders for non-defense capital goods ex-aircraft rising 1.7%–the best month since May. Corporate America’s willingness to invest isn’t dead yet. Even so, new orders for big-ticket items overall remains sluggish. Today’s report suggests that the bottom isn’t falling out on this leading indicator, at least not yet, but the numbers are still well short of offering robust confidence for arguing that demand is strong.