February Factory Orders Dip 0.1%

March 31, 2011 10:20 AM, EDT

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Factory orders dipped 0.1% in February, a month after taking biggest gain in almost four and a half years, the Commerce Department said Thursday.

The downturn followed January’s revised 3.3% increase that had been the biggest since September 2006. It had originally been reported as a 3.1% gain.

The February reading was in contrast with economists’ forecasts of a 0.5% increase, Bloomberg reported.

Durable goods orders, which make up just over half of all orders, fell 0.6%.

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Capital goods orders including excluding aircraft and military orders, a measure of future business investment, fell 0.7%.

The trucking industry relies on factory orders and shipments for much of its business.

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