Business news with words aircraft+department+factory. 2 news.

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - Orders for U.S.-made factory goods rose 0.2% in September on higher gasoline prices, the Commerce Department reported Friday. Orders for durable goods fell 1.7% on a big drop in orders for defense aircraft and other defense goods. Orders and shipments for nondurable goods rose 2.1%. The value of shipments from petroleum refiners jumped 11.2% on the month, accounting for all the gain in nondurables. Total factory orders were stronger than the 0.7% decline expected by economists surveyed by MarketWatch. Factory orders had fallen a revised 3.5% in August. Special one-time factors in both directions clouded the underlying trends in September. Compared with a year ago, orders were down 0.1%, while shipments were off 0.2%.

Factory orders decline more than expected Orders to factories fell in August by the largest amount in seven months, reflecting weakness across a wide swath of manufacturing as the turbulent financial market made businesses more cautious. The Commerce Department said orders dropped 3.3 percent in August, even worse than the expected 2.8 percent decline. It was the biggest setback since orders fell 4.2 percent in January. Demand for commercial aircraft fell 39.9 percent, leading the overall decline. Orders also were weak for other industries, from autos and home appliances to industrial machine