Durable Goods Orders Rose in December

Washington, DC, Jan. 28, 2010--Orders for durable goods posted a modest increase in December, although orders for the year fell by a record amount.

The Commerce Department said Thursday that orders for durable goods edged up 0.3 percent last month, a much weaker showing than the 2 percent advance economists had been expecting.

For all of 2009, durable goods orders declined by 20.2 percent, the largest drop on records that go back to 1992.

The 20.2 percent orders decline last year followed a 5.8 percent drop in 2008, the first back-to-back annual declines since 2001 and 2002.