US factory orders fall to 3½ year low in October

NEW orders for US-made goods fell more than expected in October, constrained by weakening demand, with high interest rates beginning to bite into spending.

Factory orders fell 3.6 per cent after a downwardly revised 2.3 per cent in September, the Commerce Department’s Census Bureau said on Monday (Dec 4), the lowest level since April 2020.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast orders would decline 2.8 per cent. Orders advanced 0.5 per cent on an annual basis in October.

The manufacturing sector, buoyed by a jump in spending on goods in the third quarter, is increasingly feeling the strain of higher interest rates and adds to signs the economy will more meaningfully slow in the fourth quarter. The sector accounts for 11.1 per cent of the economy. REUTERS