Manufacturing Shows Strength, but Labor Markets Still Troubled
A surge in durable goods orders showed life in the manufacturing sector, while claims for jobless benefits rose, another troublesome sign for the labor markets.</br></br>Manufacturers' orders for goods designed to last three years increased 3.0% last month, to a seasonally adjusted $175.75 billion, the Commerce Department said Thursday.</br></br>Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had projected a 1.5% climb in durables, which include cars, computers, and toasters.</br></br>"Over the course of the year, new orders have been gently climbing amid substantial volatility, suggesting that new orders have troughed and are now recovering after falling significantly in 2008," Insight Economics analyst Steven Wood said.</br></br>But the report had its soft spots. Orders for nondefense capital goods excluding aircraft, for instance, fell, by 2.9%. The orders are seen as a barometer of capital spending by businesses. Non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft shipments, used in calculating gross domestic product, fell 1.5%. The declines caused Macroeconomic Advisers to lower its tracking forecast of gross domestic product growth in the first quarter, by one-tenth to 3.0%.