NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The U.S. manufacturing sector continued to grow in February and March, according to two separate measures Wednesday, but both came in below forecasts by economists on Wall Street.
The National Association of Purchasing Management-Chicago said its index of regional manufacturing fell to 57.6 this month from 63.6 in February. Any index reading above 50 signals expansion in the sector, but economists, on average, expected a reading of 61, according to Briefing.com.
Separately, the Commerce Department said orders received by U.S. factories rose 0.3 percent in February, compared with a revised decline of 0.9 percent in January. Economists, on average, expected orders to rise 1.5 percent, according to analysts surveyed by Briefing.com.
The reports pushed U.S. stock prices down in early trading, and Treasury bond prices rose.
Before, during and after the 2001 recession, the manufacturing sector was by many measures the worst-performing sector of the total U.S. economy. And despite recent gains, the sector still has a way to go before it reaches a full recovery.
Among the Chicago PMI's components, new orders fell to 60.4 from 67.5, its production index plunged to 59.1 from 73, and its prices-paid index rose to 75.7 from 66.9.
The employment index fell to 49.2 from 54.8 in February. Factory payrolls are 3.3 million jobs leaner than they were at their peak in March 1998, according to Labor Department data, and many of those jobs are never coming back, thanks to technology-driven productivity gains and the movement of some production jobs overseas.
The gains in the Commerce Department's factory orders report were due to a 9.6-percent jump in orders for transportation equipment, driven by a 61.4-percent increase in orders for defense aircraft.
Excluding transportation, orders fell 1.2 percent, following a 0.9-percent gain in January. Orders for durable goods -- long-lasting items such as cars and refrigerators -- rose 2.5 percent, while orders for non-durable goods fell 2 percent.
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