Factory orders in America have rose while business spending has also increased, as a new government report revealed on Friday that new orders for factory made products in the United States reported a 2nd straight rise in December.
According to the Commerce Department, a 1.1 percent rise in orders of manufactured products was reported but the rise was a little below the expectations of Wall Street, as economists had predicted a 1.5 percent rise. However, increase in November was renewed and was reported to by 2.2 percent. Previous reports revealed that in November, there was a 1.8 percent increase but the new reports, bringing revised figures, suggest otherwise.
For 2011, factory orders increased by 12.1 percent, after they rose for 12.9 percent a year before, in 2010. Moreover, non defense capital goods’ orders also rose, which however doesn’t incorporate aircrafts, increasing by 3.1 percent in the final month of last year. In November, the same category dropped by 1.5 percent and in October, it dropped by 0.9 percent.
On the other hands, business spending also reported gains. Business spending is one of the key drivers of growth in America ever since the financial crisis that struck the economy in 2007-2009. It was reported that in the last month of 2011, there were increased and widespread gains in many important and key order categories which included a wide range of products such as personal computers, fabricated metal products, along with many other products including transportation equipment. However, while most of the categories increased, some declined. Amongst the categories that reported declines was the electrical equipment category, which dropped in value in December as compared to its value in November. However, overall, mostly gains were reported which is good news for the United States economy, which is still recovering from the terrible financial crisis.
