By Tuba Ongun
US factory orders dropped at the fastest pace in six months by 0.9% month-on-month in December, deeper than the market forecast, according to Commerce Department figures released Tuesday.
New orders for manufactured goods, which measure the change in the value of new purchase orders placed with manufacturers, fell to $578.5 billion.
The figure accelerated from November's downwardly revised 0.8% decline and was worse than the market forecast of 0.7%.
New orders for manufactured durable goods in December declined $6.2 billion, or 2.2%, to $276.1 billion, driven by transportation equipment, which plunged 7.4%.
Excluding transportation, factory orders rose 0.3% during the same period.