New orders for U.S. manufactured goods showed a notable rebound in the month of February, according to a report released by the Commerce Department on Tuesday, with the increase largely due to strength in the volatile transportation sector.
The report said factory orders surged up by 3.0 percent in February following a revised 1.0 percent decrease in January.
Economists had expected orders to increase by 2.9 percent compared to the 2.0 percent drop that had been reported for the previous month.
The increase in factory orders was largely due to a substantial rebound by orders for transportation equipment, which jumped 21.8 percent in February after tumbling by 17.7 percent in January.
Orders for commercial aircraft and parts soared by 95.1 percent in February after falling by 23.8 in January, as aerospace giant Boeing (BA) reported that its aircraft orders rose to 179 in February from just two in the previous month.
Excluding the jump in orders for transportation equipment, factory orders edged up by 0.3 percent in February compared to a 2.0 percent increase in January.
The report said orders for durable goods increased by 5.6 percent in February, reflecting a slight downward revision from the 5.7 percent increase reported last week.
Orders for non-durable goods rose by 0.8 percent in February following a 1.4 percent increase in January and a 0.6 percent drop in December.
The Commerce Department also said shipments of manufactured goods increased by 0.9 percent in February after edging up by 0.4 percent in the previous month.
Inventories of manufactured goods rose for the third straight month, inching up by 0.2 percent in February after climbing by 0.6 percent in January.
With shipments increasing at a faster rate than inventories, the inventories-to-shipments ratio dipped to 1.27 in February from 1.28 in January.
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