New orders for manufactured goods increased for two consecutive months, indicating steadily recovering demands as weather turned warmer, the U.S. Commerce Department said in a report on Friday.
New orders for manufactured goods increased 1.1 percent in March following February's revised gain of 1.5 percent, the report said.
New orders excluding transportation, a closely watched index as a key proxy for business investment, increased 0.6 percent.
Transportation orders are frequently volatile, and are often stripped out to get a clearer view of underlying trends.
New orders for manufactured durable goods increased 2.9 percent, unchanged from the previously published increase. New orders for non-durable goods increased 0.6 percent.
Economic activity in the U.S. manufacturing sector continued to expand at better-than-expected level in April. The manufacturing index, also known as the purchasing managers index (PMI), registered 54.9 percent, an increase of 1.2 percentage points from March's reading, the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said Thursday.
