WASHINGTON - New orders for U.S. manufactured goods fell 1.5% in December, reversing November's gains, Commerce Department data showed Tuesday.
New factory orders dropped to $489.2 billion from $496.4 billion in November. Much of the fall was in often-volatile civilian aircraft orders and followed a surge in the same orders in November.
Excluding transportation equipment, which includes aircraft, new orders were up 0.2%, with strength especially in machinery for oil and gas exploration.
For the full year, new orders for manufactured goods increased 2.5% to $5.82 trillion; non-transport orders gained just 1.5% at $4.95 trillion.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2014
