国际英语新闻：U.S. factory orders drop 0.9% in March

WASHINGTON, May 1 (Xinhua) -- New orders for manufactured goods to U.S. factories fell by 0.9 percent in March, steeper than the 0.6 percent drop economists had predicted, the Commerce Department said on Friday.

    The larger-than-expected fall followed a 0.7 percent rise in February.

    Orders for durable goods, big-ticket items expected to last at least three years such as computers, cars and machinery, declined 0.8 percent in March after having gained 1.6 percent in the previous month.

    Demand for transportation equipment, which accounts for more than a quarter of total durable goods demand, decreased 1.2 percent, compared with a 2.4 percent increase in February.

    Excluding volatile transportation products, overall factory orders would have declined 0.9 percent after having risen 0.5 percent in the prior month.

    Orders for nondurable goods, including food, paper products, petroleum and coal products, also dropped 1.0 percent in March, following a 0.2 percent dip in the prior month.

    In March, shipments of manufactured products tumbled 1.2 percent, an eighth consecutive decline. It marked the longest stretch of decreases on records going back to 1992.

    U.S. manufacturers have been battered by the global financial crisis and economic recession as demand has shrunk both in the United States and in their major overseas markets.