U.S. Durable Goods Orders Slightly Up Jan 29, 2010

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Orders for big-ticket U.S. manufactured goods in December rose 0.3%, the Commerce Department reported, in a sign of steady growth in the industrial sector of the economy.

The report showed new orders for durable goods -- including planes, cars, appliances, and other items expected to last 3 years or more -- rose to $167.9 billion. It followed a revised a 0.4 percent decrease in November.

Excluding transportation -- which can be heavily skewed by aircraft demand -- new orders increased 0.9%. Excluding defense, new orders rose 0.3%. Still, the overall figure for durable orders was well below the rise of 2.0% expected by private economists.

Over the full year 2009, orders fell 20.2%, which is the worst since the data series began in 1992. The December rise was led by machinery orders, up 6.0%, while orders for computers and electronics fell 3.0%.

(Source: AFP)

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