Factory Orders

Manufacturing in the U.S. stagnated in July as orders slumped to the lowest level in almost seven years, signaling that higher raw material costs and slower spending are hurting producers. The Institute for Supply Management's factory index fell to 50, a higher reading than forecast, from 50.2 in June, the group said. A reading of 50 is the dividing line between expansion and contraction. While the index fell to a five-year low of 48.3 in February, it was still well above the 42.1 reading reached in February 2001, a month before the start of the 2001 recession.

Orders to factories for big-ticket manufactured goods jumped unexpectedly in December, good news amid signs that the U.S. economy may be tipping toward a recession. Still, analysts said that the 5.2% growth in orders -- though potentially boosting industrial output in coming months -- probably came from overseas demand and that domestic growth faced continuing threats from tight credit and mortgage markets that have forced consumers to retrench.

U.S. factories saw demand for their products rise in December by the largest amount in five months, a spot of welcome news that failed to change the picture of an economy struggling to stay afloat. The Commerce Department reported Monday that orders placed with U.S. factories rose by 2.3% in December. That was an improvement from the 1.7% gain posted in November and marked the biggest increase since July.

A spreading U.S. economic slowdown seeped into factory activity in February and March as waning demand more than offset the export benefits of a cheaper dollar, a series of reports showed Monday. A Federal Reserve report on industrial output showed that factories were running at their slowest rate in more than two years during February while a key gauge of factory business in the northeastern U.S. slumped to a record low in March.

Orders to U.S. factories fell more than forecast in February, as companies scaled back investment plans on concern the economy was already in a recession. The 1.3% decrease followed a 2.3% decline in January, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. Excluding orders for transportation equipment, which tend to be volatile, demand fell 1.8%, the largest decline since January 2007. Meantime, bankruptcy filings by U.S.

Orders to U.S. factories plunged by the largest amount in nearly two years in August as the credit strains began to hit manufacturing with full force. The Commerce Department reported that orders for manufactured goods dropped 4% in August, compared with July. That's a much worse performance than the 2.5% decline that economists had expected. It was the biggest setback since a 4.8% plunge in October 2006. The weakness was led by big declines in orders for aircraft, which were down 38.

Orders to U.S. factories for big-ticket manufactured goods posted an unexpectedly strong showing in September -- the largest gain in three months -- on a surge in demand for airplanes and autos, government data showed Wednesday. The Commerce Department reported that orders for durable goods rose by 0.8%, surprising economists who had expected a decline. Orders had fallen by 5.5% in August, which was the biggest setback in nearly two years. The September increase was the largest gain since a 1.

Factory orders in September dropped far more than analysts expected as the U.S. manufacturing sector continues to suffer from the economic slump. The Commerce Department said Tuesday that factory orders fell 2.5% from August, compared with the 0.8% drop expected by Wall Street economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters. That's on top of a revised 4.3% decline in August, which was the steepest in almost two years. Excluding autos and aircraft, orders fell 3.

The government released a quartet of reports Wednesday that paint a bleak picture of the nation's economy: Jobless claims remain at recessionary levels, Americans cut back on their spending by the largest amount since the 2001 terrorist attacks, orders to U.S. factories plummeted and new-home sales fell to the lowest level in nearly 18 years.

Orders to U.S. factories plunged in October by the sharpest amount in more than eight years as a deepening recession caused big cutbacks in demand for steel, autos, computers and heavy machinery. Analysts expect that the weakness will continue for some time. The Commerce Department reported Thursday that factory orders dropped 5.1% in October, the largest decrease since an 8.5% fall in July 2000. It was larger than the 4% drop economists had been expecting.