U.S. Factory Orders Climb Slightly More Than Expected In February

(RTTNews) - After reporting a sharp increase by new orders for U.S. manufactured goods in the previous month, the Commerce Department released a report on Wednesday showing a continued increase by factory orders in the month of February.

The Commerce Department said factory orders climbed by 0.6 percent in February after surging by an upwardly revised 1.8 percent in January.

Economists had expected factory orders to rise by 0.5 percent compared to the 1.7 percent jump originally reported for the previous month.

The slightly bigger than expected increase by factory orders came as durable goods shot up by 1.0 percent in February after spiking by 3.4 percent in January.

Orders for transportation equipment led the way higher once again, jumping by 1.5 percent in February after soaring by 10.2 percent in January.

The report said orders for non-durable goods also rose by 0.3 percent in February, matching the increase seen in the previous month.

The Commerce Department also said shipments of manufactured goods climbed by 0.7 percent in February after rising by 0.5 percent in January.

Inventories of manufactured goods also crept up by 0.1 percent in February, matching the uptick seen in the previous month.

With shipments increasing by much more than inventories, the inventories-to-shipments ratio edged down to 1.45 in February from 1.46 in January.