Stripping out transportation
Stripping out transportation orders which were depressed by a plunge in the volatile aircraft component, new orders were down a more modest 0.1 percent.
The U.S. manufacturing sector continues to expand, although growth may be moderating. The Institute for Supply Management said on Wednesday that its gauge of factory activity showed slower growth in September.
The four-week moving average of jobless claims, considered a better measure of labor market trends as it irons out week-to-week volatility, fell 4,250 to 294,750, just above an 8-1/2 year low hit in early August.
The Labor Department said there were no special factors influencing the state level data.
