US factory orders down 4% in March

New orders for U.S. manufactured goods dropped 4.0 percent in March due to a sharp decrease of durable goods including transportation equipment, the Department of Commerce reported on Friday. U.S. factory orders decreased 19.5 billion U.S. dollars to a seasonally adjusted 467.3 billion dollars in March. New orders for durable goods, big-ticket items expected to last at least three years such as computers, cars and machinery, shed 5.8 percent to 216.0 billion dollars in March. New orders for nondurable goods, including food, paper products, petroleum and coal products, edged down 2.4 percent to 251.3 billion dollars in March.