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actory orders rose 0.5% in October, the fifth increase in the past six months, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.
The jump to $371.5 billion followed no change in September, which was revised from a 0.4% decline. Excluding transportation equipment, orders increased 0.6%, the sixth straight gain.
Rising orders translate to more demand for trucking services because factories use trucks to ship raw materials and finished products.
Durable goods orders, which account for more than half the total, fell 1.1%, the biggest drop since April.
Commerce also said orders for capital goods excluding aircraft, a proxy for future business investment, fell 4.2% after a 5.4% September increase. Shipments of those goods rose 2%, the report said.
The inventory-to-shipments ratio, a measure of how long supplies on hand would last at the current sales rate, held at 1.24 months' supply.
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