Factory Orders Dip
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WASHINGTON (AP) – America’s factories saw demand for their products dip by a smaller-than-expected 0.5 percent in May, suggesting that despite some pockets of weakness the manufacturing revival remains intact.
The drop reported by the Commerce Department Tuesday came after new orders for a range of manufactured goods rose by 0.5 percent in April. The decline in May mostly reflected weaker demand for airplanes. Fewer orders for construction equipment, industrial machinery and household appliances also figured prominently into the overall decline – byproducts of the housing slump.
The 0.5 percent dip was actually a much better showing than the deeper, 1.2 percent decline that economists said they were expecting.
