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U.S. factory orders fall
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December 5, 2000: 1:18 p.m. ET
October orders decline 3.3%, a sharper drop than economists' forecasts
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Orders placed with U.S. manufacturers declined at a faster-than-expected pace in October, a government report released Tuesday showed, offering more statistical evidence that the U.S. economy is slowing down.
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The Commerce Department said factory orders fell 3.3 percent in October, a sharper decline that the 2.5 percent drop expected by economists polled by Briefing.com and well below September's revised 1.1 percent gain. September's orders initially were reported as a 1.6 percent increase.
It was the first decline in factory orders since an 8.1 percent slump in July.
Demand for durable goods fell 5.6 percent in October to $208.3 billion. The decline was also driven by a 16.1 percent drop in transportation equipment orders and a 9.9 percent drop in electronics orders, the government said.
Orders for aircraft and parts tumbled 44.9 percent in October after gaining 15.9 percent the previous month.
Excluding the more volatile transportation sector, factory orders in October fell 1.2 percent, the second decline in the last four months.
The report closely preceded comments by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan that acknowledged signs of a softening economy. The remarks, at a banking conference in New York, appeared to make investors optimistic that the central bank could relax its position about inflation and interest rates in the near future.
-- from staff and wire reports 
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