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November 4, 2002 10:49 AM, EST

Orders placed with U.S. factories fell 2.3% -- their third decline in four months, the Commerce Department reported Monday.

Factory orders are an indication of manufacturing activity, and important to trucking. As manufacturing goes, oftentimes, so goes trucking because the industry relies heavily on factory shipments for business.

Discounting transportation orders, factory orders rose 0.6% during the month, Commerce said.

Overall orders totaled $318.1 billion in the month, following a revised decline of 0.4% in August.

Analysts told Bloomberg that the report provided more evidence that the manufacturing sector was in trouble and possibly entering into a recession.

Last week, the Institute for Supply Management said that its factory index showed contraction for the second straight month.

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