U.S. durable goods orders rebound in March

New orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods rebounded in March after falling in February, the U.S. Commerce Department reported Friday.

Orders for durable goods increased 4 percent in March from the previous month to 240.2 billion U.S. dollars, following a 1.4 percent decrease in February.

Orders for transportation equipment drove the increase, with a 13.5 percent surge to 80.3 billion dollars.

Excluding the volatile transportation sector, new orders for manufactured durable goods decreased 0.2 percent in March.

The manufacturing sector continued to be soft outside of the transportation industry, as low oil prices have caused oil and gas firms to scale back investment and the strong dollar has hurt exporters.

The Institute for Supply Management said earlier this month that its purchasing managers' index fell to the lowest level since May 2013. Endi