U.S. durable goods orders rise in January

New orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods rebounded in January after falling for two consecutive months, the U.S. Commerce Department reported Thursday.

Orders for durable goods rose 2.8 percent in January from a month ago to 236.1 billion U.S. dollars, following a 3.7 percent decrease in December and 2.2 percent drop in November 2014.

After falling for two months in a row, orders for transportation equipment went up 9.1 percent to 72.1 billion U.S. dollars last month, leading the increase in the total new orders.

Excluding the volatile transportation sector, new orders for manufactured durable goods increased at a modest pace of 0.3 percent in January.

Data over recent months showed the manufacturing sector is still soft against the background of slow global growth and strong dollar. Weak business investment contributed to the country's slower growth of gross domestic product in the fourth quarter of 2014. Nonresidential fixed investment rose at a 1.9 percent annual rate in the quarter, down from the third quarter's pace of 8.9 percent. Endite