U.S. factory orders continue to fall in May

U.S. factory orders continued to drop in May, driven by the decrease in transportation orders, the U.S. Commerce Department said in a report Thursday.

In May, new orders for manufactured goods went down 4.5 billion U.S. dollars, or 1 percent, to 470.5 billion dollars, the report said. The new orders, which followed a 0.7 percent decrease in April, kept falling in nine out of the last ten months.

Transportation equipment orders, which included both aircraft and vehicles, led the decrease, falling 6.5 percent to 71.6 billion dollars. Transportation orders are frequently volatile, and are often stripped out to get a clearer view of underlying trends. Excluding transportation, new orders edged up 0.1 percent in May, compared to a revised decline of 0.1 percent in April.

Shipments, down two consecutive months, fell 0.1 percent to 482. 1 billion dollars in May.

The lackluster data on Thursday suggests that the manufacturing sector is still struggling with challenges such as slowdown in energy investment and a strong dollar. Endite