Orders for manufactured goods were flat in August, the Commerce Department said Tuesday.
The unchanged reading was in line with forecasts of economists surveyed by the Wall Street Journal.
The factory sector, which led the economy’s recovery from the pandemic, has started to slow.
The Institute for Supply Management reported Monday that its key gauge of factory activity slowed to 50.9% in September, the lowest level since the worst of the pandemic recession in May 2020
Durable-goods orders fell 0.2% in August, unrevised from the initial estimate.
Orders for nondurable goods were up 0.2% in the month.
Offsetting some of the gloom, orders for nondefense capital goods, excluding aircraft, rose a revised 1.4% in August, up slightly from the prior reading of a 1.3% gain.
Stocks
DJIA,
SPX,
were sharply higher for the second straight day Tuesday after steep losses in September.
