February factory orders show first gain since July

In welcome news for manufacturers contending with weak demand from overseas, the Commerce Department on Thursday reported factory orders gained 0.2 percent in February, the first increase since July.

However, the news for February was tempered by a revision in the January figure: Orders fell 0.7 percent, worse than the 0.2 percent drop the government originally reported.

Excluding volatile transportation orders, factory orders rose 0.8 percent, the most since June. Orders for autos and auto parts fell 1.2 percent, and orders for private aircraft and aviation parts dropped 8.8 percent.

Orders for durable goods, meant to last at least three years, fell 1.4 percent. Nondurable goods orders rose 1.8 percent in February, pulled up by rebounding prices for petroleum products.

"The numbers have been volatile lately, with a lot of transportation orders, those kinds of things. The stronger dollar and weaker overseas growth has been weighing on orders," Gus Faucher, senior economist at PNC, told CBS MoneyWatch.

But business demand and consumer spending will support "gains throughout most of 2015; the economy continues to expand at an above trend pace," Faucher said.

A trade group reported Wednesday that U.S. factories expanded last month, but at a weaker pace. The Institute for Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing managers, said its manufacturing index slid to 51.5 in March from 52.9 in February. It was the fifth straight drop. But any reading above 50 signals growth.

Despite months of dropping orders and slower growth, factories have added jobs for 19 straight months, the longest streak since the mid-1990s. Last year, manufacturers created 215,000 jobs, most since 1997.