US factory orders drop 0.9%

New orders for US manufactured goods declined in October, mainly triggered by falling new orders for durable goods, the US Department of Commerce reported Thursday. US factory orders dropped 4.4 billion US dollars, or 0.9 percent, to a seasonally adjusted 487 billion dollars in October, in comparison with a revised 1.8 percent increase in September. New orders for durable goods, big-ticket items expected to last at least three years such as computers, cars and machinery, also went down 1.6 percent to 231.4 billion dollars in October. New orders for nondurable goods, including food, paper products, petroleum and coal products, decreased 0.2 percent to 255.6 billion dollars in October.