Factory Orders Rebound in October

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Orders to U.S. factories posted a solid increase in October, the government reported Tuesday, providing the latest evidence that the economy is rebounding from the Gulf Coast hurricanes and a spike in energy prices.


The Commerce Department said that demand for manufactured goods rose by 2.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted $399.8 billion in October, erasing a 1.4 percent September decline when demand was jolted by the hurricanes, a strike at aircraft giant Boeing and a jump in energy costs.


In other news, the productivity of American workers shot up at an annual rate of 4.7 percent in the July-September quarter, the best showing in two years. The new report from the Labor Department represented a big upward revision from an initial estimate made a month ago that productivity was growing at a 4.1 percent rate in the third quarter.


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