Declining in three of the last four months, new orders for manufactured goods in October totaled $390.3 billion, down 4.7% from September's $409.6 billion, the largest decrease since the mid-summer of 2000, according to U.S. Commerce Department figures released Dec. 5. New orders rose 1.7% in September.
New orders for durable goods, generally big-ticket items designed to last at least three years, fell 8.2% in October to $210.2 billion, the largest decrease since July 2000. In September new orders for manufactured durables increased 8.7%. New orders for manufactured non-durable goods decreased three-tenths of a percent in October to $180.2 billion.
