Factory orders post record decline

New orders for US factory goods posted their biggest decline on record in August, payback for an aircraft-driven jump a month earlier.

The Commerce Department said on Thursday new orders for manufactured goods dropped 10.1 per cent. That was the largest drop in records going back to 1992.

Stripping out transportation orders which were depressed bya plunge in the volatile aircraft component, new orders were down a more modest 0.1 per cent.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast total new orders received by factories would decline 9.3 per cent.