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Orders to U.S. factories posted a moderate increase in April as a big surge in demand for commercial aircraft offset weakness
in a number of other areas.
The Commerce Department said that orders for manufactured goods increased 1.2 percent in April, a slowdown from a 1.7-percent
rise in March. Excluding transportation, orders actually fell 0.5 percent, the poorest showing in 13 months. However, that
drop followed a big 3.8-percent surge in March, which had been the largest advance in six years.
So far in this recovery, the manufacturing sector has been one of the star performers, helped by a strong rebound in domestic
demand and rising export sales. However, economists worry that the debt crisis in Europe could slow sales in one of America's
biggest overseas markets.
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