Government Report Shows First Factory Order Drop in 5 months (Reuters) (05-03-2008)

WASHIGNTON, March 5 (Reuters) - Factory orders in the U.S. were down by 2.5% in January, as expected, however it is the first drop in five months. Polled Reuters analysts expected this exact number.

According to the Commerce Department, this is the second drop after the fall of 5.1% in the previous month, and comes after two months of advances.

If one takes the volatile transport sector out of the equation the decline is just 0.4%

Source: Reuters