January Factory Orders Rise 0.2%, Commerce Says

rders placed with factories rose 0.2% in January, the Commerce Department reported Friday.

Analysts were expecting orders to fall by 0.1%, Bloomberg reported.

Rising orders translate to more demand for trucking services because factories use trucks to ship raw materials and finished products.

Excluding transportation equipment, factory orders rose 1.1%, the department said.

Bookings for durable goods, which account for about 55% of total orders, fell 1.1% to $199.9 billion in January following a 1.5% gain in December.

Commerce also said that January factory inventories rose by a record 1.3% to $477.5 billion, following a 0.1% gain in December.

Unfilled orders of manufactured durable goods in January fell $1 billion or 0.2% to $551.2 billion, following eleven consecutive monthly increases, Commerce said.