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Orders for long-lasting manufactured goods fell 2.9% in April, breaking a string of two consecutive gains in the indicator of future factory activity, the Commerce Department announced Wednesday.

A decline in orders for aircraft and automobiles, which fell 3.2% and 9.7% respectively, led the decline. Excluding orders for transportation equipment, which dropped 4.7% overall, orders for durable goods slipped 2.1% during the month.

Orders for durable goods are often looked to as an indicator of future factory activity. Factory activity drives demand for transportation services, particularly trucking, which hauls finished products and components to and from production plants.

The drop in ex-transportation orders was the first in five months, Commerce said.

Analysts told Bloomberg News that after strong gains the previous two months, it was not unexpected that durable goods orders fell, but that “the basic trend is positive.”

During the month, durable goods orders total $191.3 billion, Commerce said.

In March, orders had risen 5.7%, a revised increase that followed a 3.9% in February. In April 2003, orders rose 12.4%.

Bloomberg noted that durable goods orders are among the most volatile economic indicator. The last time orders rose three months in a row was between January and March 1999.