New factory orders for manufactured goods jumped 1.8% in February, the Commerce Department said yesterday.
The factory order increase, to $352.189 billion, contrasted to the 1.5% decrease projected by Thomson Reuters and came after a revised 3.5% decrease to $346.120 billion in January, originally reported as a 1.9% drop to $351.926 billion.
Excluding transportation, the level of all new manufacturing orders fell 1.6% to about $313.7 billion in February, following a 2.4% drop in January to $308.6 billion, originally reported as a 0.9% slide to $313.3 billion.
Excluding the military, new orders rose 0.9% to $339.9 billion, following a 1.9% drop to $336.7 billion last month, originally reported as a 0.5% drop to $341.5 billion.
