Factory Orders Fell 5.2% in August |
| Wall Street Journal - Oct 4, 2012 |
U.S. factory orders posted the largest drop in more than three years in August as demand for aircraft and cars fell sharply. Outside of transportation, the manufacturing sector grew mildly.
Separately, the number of U.S. workers filing applications for jobless benefits rose slightly last week, but the longer-run trend continued to show that claims have mainly stabilized since July. The steady jobless claims—a measure of layoffs—suggest the economy is neither quickly adding nor shedding jobs.
Orders for manufactured goods fell 5.2% to $452.81 billion in August, the Commerce Department said Thursday. The decline was the largest since January 2009, but it wasn't as big as expected. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires were anticipating a 6.0% drop.
The decline was led by falling transportation orders, which dropped 34.9% in August. Motor-vehicle and parts orders fell 11%.
Excluding the often volatile transportation sector, new factory orders were up 0.7% in August.
Read Full Article from Wall Street Journal
- Posted: 2012-10-04 13:33:55
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