New US applications for unemployment benefits fell last week, but orders for a range of manufactured goods recorded their largest decline in two years in January.
Initial claims for state unemployment insurance benefits fell 22,000 to a seasonally adjusted 391,000 last week, the Labor Department said. Economists had expected claims to drop to 400,000 last week.
A separate report from the Commerce Department showed orders for long-lasting US manufactured goods, excluding transport, dropped 3.6%, the biggest fall since January 2009, after rising 3% in December. Economists had expected a 0.4% rise.
Overall durable goods orders rose 2.7%, the biggest increase since September, after falling 0.4% the previous month. The rise in overall orders reflected a surge in aircraft bookings, which probably reflected the bulk of December orders from aircraft maker Boeing.
Outside transport, there were big declines in orders for machinery, computers and communications equipment. Durable goods orders are a leading indicator of manufacturing and the report suggested factory activity, a strong pillar of the economic recovery, was slowing down.
The Commerce Department report showed that non-defence capital goods orders excluding aircraft, a closely watched indicator of business spending, dropped 6.9% last month, the biggest decline in two years.
