New orders for US factory goods up 4.8%

U.S. factory orders for manufactured goods rose 4.8 percent in September, helped by a big jump in the transportation category, the Census Bureau said Friday. New orders rose for the second month in the past three, climbing by $22 billion to $475.4 billion. Orders had fallen 5.1 percent in August. After dropping 34.9 percent in August, orders for big-ticket transportation items such as trucks, ships, planes and trains rebounded, gaining by $16.6 billion or 31.3 percent to $69.4 billion. Orders for durable goods -- defined as merchandise expected to last at least three years -- rose by 9.8 percent to $218.2 billion, the fourth increase in five months. The influence of the transportation sector was such that excluding it from the data would have left the overall increase in orders at 1.4 percent, said the Census Bureau, which is part of the Commerce Department. New orders for non-durable goods rose by 1 percent or $2.4 billion to $257.2 billion, following a 0.2 percent drop in July.