Factory Orders in U.S. Unexpectedly Increase 0.4% in Third Monthly Advance

[Purveyor]

Source: Bloomberg

Aug. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Orders placed at U.S. factories rose for a third month in June as oil prices rose and demand increased for goods such as metals and construction equipment.

Bookings gained 0.4 percent after a revised 1.1 percent increase in May that was smaller than previously estimated, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. Excluding demand for transportation equipment such as cars and airplanes, which tends to be volatile, orders rose 2.3 percent.

The factory slump is easing as leaner inventories, signs business investment may pick up and improving demand from overseas reinforce forecasts that the recession will end this year. A federal “cash-for-clunkers” program has started boosting demand for cars, helping the auto industry. At the same time, job losses will mean a slow, muted economic recovery.

“Manufacturers’ customers are growing more comfortable with the level of their stockpiles, which sets the stage for an increase in orders and production,” Ryan Sweet, a senior economist at Moody’s Economy.com in West Chester, Pennsylvania, said before the report.

U.S. service industries unexpectedly contracted at a faster pace in July as concern over rising unemployment gripped consumers. The Institute for Supply Management’s index of non- manufacturing businesses, which make up almost 90 percent of the economy, fell to 46.4 from 47 in June, according to the Tempe, Arizona-based group. Fifty is the dividing line between expansion and contraction.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601068&sid=aBbmXG7QmB5M

[Skink]

1. They control the means of production.

[notadmblnd]

2. did the pentagon go on a buying spree?

since about the only factories that still exist in this country is in the arms industry, it must mean that the pentagon got its budget reallocated for the year?

[RedCloud]

3. Oil prices rising with little demand. Where's supply and demand?

Thieves!