Employees inspect Mercedes-Benz C-Class cars at the Mercedes-Benz US International factory in Vance, Alabama.
U.S. factory goods orders rose for the sixth straight month in October, the Commerce Department said Friday.
Orders for manufactured goods rose 1% after a 1.3% gain in the prior month.
The manufacturing sector, which has experience with controlled environments, has been able to adjust to the coronavirus pandemic while the service industry has struggled. However, economists are worried that orders may dry up as COVID-19 cases skyrocket.
Economists surveyed by MarketWatch were expecting a 0.8% gain in October.
Underneath the headlines, durable goods orders rose 1.3%, in October unrevised from last week’s initial reading. Orders for nondurable goods were up 0.7% in the month.
Orders for nondefense capital goods, excluding aircraft, rose a revised 0.8% in October, up slightly from the prior estimate of an 0.7% rise.
Stocks opened higher despite a lackluster November job report. The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
was up 114 points in morning trading.
