U.S. durable goods orders down in February

New orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods declined in February after rising in the previous month, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday.

Orders for durable goods dropped 1.4 percent in February from January to 231.3 billion dollars, following a 2 percent increase in January. The orders were down in three of the previous four months.

Orders for transportation equipment saw the biggest drop. The orders for transportation fell 3.5 percent to 69.5 billion dollars.

Excluding the volatile transportation sector, new orders for manufactured durable goods fell 0.4 percent in February.

Data over recent months showed that the manufacturing sector is still soft against the background of slow global growth and a strong dollar. Economic activity in the U.S. manufacturing sector slowed to its weakest pace in more than a year in February. Endi