Factory Orders Rise 2.2% in October, Commerce Says

.S. factory orders rose 2.2% in October, the second increase in three months, the Commerce Department said Tuesday.

The gain followed a revised 1.4% decline in September that was smaller than the 1.7% drop originally reported.

The rise was slightly below economists’ forecasts of a 2.2% gain, Bloomberg reported. Excluding transportation equipment, orders rose 0.6%.

Booking for durable goods, which account for just over half of total orders, rose 3.7% after falling 2% in September.

Non-durable goods orders, including petroleum, textiles and industrial chemicals, rose 0.5% following a 0.8% drop in September.

Orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, a proxy for future business investment, rose 1.4% following a 1.8% drop.

actory inventories rose 0.6% in October following a 0.1% rise, and inventory-to-shipments ratio, a measure of how long goods remain unsold, fell to 1.17 months from 1.18 months.

Unfilled orders rose 1.6% to $604.1 billion, the highest level on record, and were up 12.1% from a year earlier.