Government numbers released Wednesday showed that factory orders made a bit of a comeback in April, but recognized also that the March decline had been larger than originally expected. New orders rose 0.7% in April, but declined 1.9% in March. The predicted rise for April had been 0.9%, slightly higher than the actual rise. Orders for large durable goods (e.g. cars, refrigerators, etc.) rose 1.7% in April, but orders for 'non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft' declined 2.4%. Such non-defense capital goods are often thought of as a good measure of business confidence. The service sector, representing about 80% of economic activity, continued to fall, and is expected to remain on the contraction side of the expansion-contraction line.
See "Factory Orders Rose in April but Less than Forecast", The New York Times, June 2, 2009