Posted May 4, 2011
Manufactured goods orders climb
New orders for manufactured goods climbed for the fifth straight month in March to $462.9 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau said.
The 3 percent gain followed a 0.7 percent February increase and was larger than anticipated. Orders for transportation equipment showed the largest increase, rising by 6.2 percent. The increase was driven by a large spike in orders for ships and boats, which surged up by 161.5 percent in March following a 71.4 percent drop in February.
Excluding transportation, new orders increased 2.6 percent.
Shipments increased $12.0 billion or 2.7 percent to $461.4 billion. Unfilled orders increased $7.0 billion or 0.8 percent to $844.0 billion.
