Factory Orders Jump 1.3% In December

New orders to American factories jumped 1.3 percent in December, led by strong demand for aircraft and automobiles.

But analysts cautioned against reading too much into the report since it was only the fifth advance in 12 months.

Factory orders for both durable and non-durable goods totaled a seasonally adjusted $308.1 billion, up from $304.1 billion in November when billings slipped 0.1 percent, the Commerce Department said.

But the December increase was only the fifth of the year. Orders for all of 1995 rose just 6.6 percent, compared with a 10.3 percent jump in 1994.

Meanwhile, the Labor Department said the number of first-time claims for jobless benefits shot up by 21,000 last week, to a seasonally adjusted 387,000, reversing a two-week decline following the January blizzard.