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The U.S. factory sector is showing solid momentum going into 2021, with orders rising for eighth straight months.
Orders for manufactured goods rose 1.1% in December after a 1.3% gain in the prior month, the Commerce Department said Thursday.
Economists surveyed by the Wall Street Journal were expecting a 0.7% gain.
Shipments of factory goods rose 1.7% in December while unfilled orders fell 0.3%.
Durable-goods orders rose a revised 0.5% in December, stronger than the initial estimate of a 0.2% gain.
Orders for nondurable goods were up 1.7 % in the month. Orders for nondefense capital goods, excluding aircraft rose a revised 0.7% in December, up slightly from the prior estimate of a 0.6% rise.
Stocks were moving higher Thursday following a decline in weekly jobless claims. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.81% was up 248 points in morning trading.
