Factory Orders Rise 0.3% in December
rders placed with factories rose 0.3% in December, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.
The $1 billion increase to $379.1 billion followed a revised 1.4% rise in November and overall orders were at the highest level since the current series of figures first started in 1992, Commerce said.
Excluding transportation equipment, orders rose 0.7%, Commerce reported.
Analysts were expecting orders to rise 0.5%, Reuters reported, though Bloomberg reported one economist said the order numbers give the economy “significant momentum as 2005 unfolds.”
Overall orders would have been stronger if not for a 2.1% drop in transportation equipment bookings and a 6.2% drop in electrical equipment, Commerce reported.
Bookings for durable goods, which account for about 55% of total orders, rose 1.1%, following a revised 2% increase in November, the department reported.
ommerce also said that orders waiting to be filled increased 0.6%. Unfilled orders for transportation equipment had largest increase, 0.7%, following a 1.8% increase in November.
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