Factory, Durable Goods Orders Fall Steeply

MoneyNews
Wednesday, April 2, 2008

WASHINGTON -- New orders at U.S. factories fell for the second month in a row in February and by a much larger-than-expected 1.3 percent, a government report showed on Wednesday.
Orders for durable goods, items intended to last three years or longer, fell 1.1 percent, revised up from -1.7 percent reported March 26, the Commerce Department said.

When the volatile transportation component was stripped out, factory orders took a steeper drop of 1.8 percent. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected factory orders to fall 0.8 percent and durable goods orders to decline 1.7 percent.

In January, factory orders broke a five month streak of gains, dropping 2.5 percent and becoming one more harbinger of a possible U.S. recession.

http://moneynews.newsmax.com/money/arch ... 101348.cfm