WASHINGTON, March 6 (Reuters) - New orders for
U.S.-manufactured goods fell in January, pulled down by a plunge
in civilian aircraft bookings, but increases in machinery and a
range of other products suggested that manufacturing could be
regaining its footing.
The Commerce Department said on Monday that factory orders
dropped 1.6% after increasing 1.7% in December. Economists
polled by Reuters had forecast orders declining 1.8%. Orders
increased 4.3% on a year-on-year basis in January.
The Institute for Supply Management reported last week that
manufacturing, which accounts for 11.3% of the economy,
contracted for a fourth straight month in February, though the
pace of decline slowed and new orders improved from more than a
2-1/2 year low.
With the Federal Reserve expected to keep hiking
interest rates into summer, a swift turnaround in manufacturing
is, however, unlikely. Manufacturing is also being undermined by
the dollar's past appreciation against the currencies of the
United States' main trade partners and softening global demand.
The drop in factory orders in January mostly reflected a
13.3% decline in transportation equipment, which followed a
15.8% jump in December. Transportation equipment orders were
weighed down by a 54.5% tumble in orders for civilian aircraft.
Motor vehicle orders increased 1.3%.
Orders for machinery shot up 1.6%, while bookings for
computers and electronic products rose 0.6%. Orders for
electrical equipment, appliances and components surged 1.3%.
There were also gains in orders for primary metals and
fabricated metal products.
The Commerce Department also reported that orders for
non-defense capital goods, excluding aircraft, which are seen as
a measure of business spending plans on equipment, rebounded
0.8% in January as reported last month.
Shipments of these so-called core capital goods, which are
used to calculate business equipment spending in the gross
domestic product report, increased 1.1% as previously reported.
(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
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