Big-ticket goods orders rise

WASHINGTON — After falling for two months, orders to U.S. factories for big-ticket durable goods rose 0.7 percent in June, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday.

The gain in orders for durable goods, items expected to last three or more years, followed declines of 0.9 percent in May and 2.7 percent in April. The drop in May had originally been reported as an even sharper 1.8 percent fall. Orders last rose in March, when they surged ahead by 5.9 percent.

The 0.7 percent June increase was slightly lower than what analysts had been expecting. Still, it gave hope that the fledgling rebound in the nation’s manufacturing sector was not in danger of stalling.

A number of business barometers flashed signs of weakness in June, leading Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan to declare last week that the economy was going through a “soft patch.”

However, he said that the slowdown was likely to be temporary with momentum being generated from rising employment in recent months.

Wall Street was not impressed with the durable goods report. The Dow Jones industrial average was down more than 55 points in late-morning trading as investors continued to be concerned about how long the economic slowdown will last.

Joel Naroff, head of a Holland, Pa., economic forecasting firm, said that the small rise in June durable goods orders was disappointing, with many sectors that had been leading the recovery showing weakness.

“This was another in a long string of soft June numbers,” Naroff said. “I suspect the June weakness is nothing to get really worried about. The economy is growing, but now the breakneck pace has become a moderate, but sustainable rate.”

The biggest orders increase went to transportation equipment, everything from cars to airplanes, which rose by $2.2 billion to $55.5 billion, an advance of 4.2 percent, reflecting strength in defense aircraft and parts. Excluding demand for military goods, new orders would have fallen by 0.4 percent last month, following even bigger declines of 0.6 percent in May and 2.1 percent in April.