A report released by the Commerce Department on Thursday showed a bigger than expected increase in new orders for U.S. manufactured goods in the month of March.
The report said factory orders surged up by 1.6 percent in March, matching the upwardly revised jump seen in February.
Economists had expected factory orders to shoot up by 1.4 percent compared to the 1.2 percent increase originally reported for the previous month.
The stronger than expected growth was partly due to a 2.6 percent spike in orders for durable goods, which came as orders for transportation equipment soared by 7.6 percent.
The Commerce Department said orders for non-durable goods also rose by 0.5 percent in March after dipping by 0.3 percent in February.
The report also said shipments of manufactured goods increased by 0.4 percent, while inventories of manufactured goods edged up by 0.3 percent.
The inventories-to-shipments ratio subsequently came in at 1.35 in March, unchanged from the previous month.
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