Weak orders hit US manufacturers

Lower factory orders suggest a slow-down say analysts

US manufacturers' order books were slimmer in October for the third month in a row, a sign of economic weakness, according to the Commerce Department.

The volume of orders for durable goods fell 0.4% in October on a monthly basis, after sliding 1.4% in September.

Orders for non-defence capital goods, deemed a key sign of firms' readiness to invest, fell 2.3%, the biggest drop since February.

Some analysts now predict a further slow-down or even a recession in 2008.

Weakening

Defence orders slipped 10.6%, while orders for computers saw a dramatic 15.2% fall.

Meanwhile demand for transport-related good increased by a marginal 0.2%.

The report was "bad news for manufacturing", especially with orders for non-defence goods including machinery and tools falling said Standard and Poor's economist David Wyss.

"It suggests that this economy is weakening rapidly," he added.

Some economists are predicting that the US Federal Reserve will soon opt to cut the key interest rate again, from its current 4.5% level.

The central bank has already reduced the benchmark rate twice since September, in a bid to boost the economy following the fall-out from the slowing housing market.

Addressing the Council on Foreign Relations, the central bank's vice chairman Daniel Kohn said that recent financial turbulence had reversed some of the improvement seen in markets in previous weeks, and could further damage access to credit for households and businesses.