News In Brief

Orders for durable goods fell 4.3% in September, US says

Orders to US factories for big-ticket durable goods plunged 4.3 percent in September, the sharpest decline in five months. The Commerce Department said orders for manufactured goods expected to last three or more years dropped by $4 .4 billion, to a new level of $97.6 billion.

The September decline followed a small 0.3 percent increase in August and was the steepest decline since a 6.5 percent drop in April. Most analysts expect demand for durable goods to start climbing again in coming months.