New orders for long-lasting US manufactured goods excluding transportation surged in November, and applications for jobless benefits fell last week, pointing to a firmly entrenched economic recovery.
The US Commerce Department said that orders excluding transportation surged 2% in November after falling 0.7% the previous month, beating market expectations for a 1% rise.
A plunge in orders in civilian aircraft, however, saw overall orders for durable goods rising only 0.2%, below market expectations for a 0.5% increase.
Durable goods orders are a leading indicator of manufacturing activity and tend to give good indication of overall business health. Non-defence aircraft and new parts orders plunged 32.6% last month, the department said.
Non-defence capital goods orders excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending, jumped 2.9% last month after dropping 2% in October. Durable goods inventories fell 0.2% in November after being flat the prior month. Shipments increased 0.3%, adding to October's 0.7% gain.
Meanwhile, a separate report from the US Labor Department showed initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell by 28,000 to a seasonally adjusted 452,000 last week.
That was the lowest tally since early September 2008 and below market expectations for 470,000 new claims.
The labour market is mending after a bashing during the worst US recession since the 1930s, and employers last month cut the fewest number of jobs in more than a year. The unemployment rate dipped to 10% from a 26 and a half-year high of 10.2% in October.
