New orders for US manufactured goods rose slightly in September despite a sharp drop in demand for defence-related goods, according to a government report today .
US factory orders rose 0.5 per cent in September, the Commerce Department said. Orders for long-lasting durable goods climbed an upwardly revised 1.1 per cent and demand for shorter-lived goods fell 0.2 per cent.
The report came in close to expectations on Wall Street, where economists had looked for overall orders to gain 0.6 per cent.