News mixed on direction of U.S. economy

Friday, Aug. 24, 2001 | 11:06 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Orders to American factories for big-ticket manufactured goods fell 0.6 percent in July, the third decline in the last four months. But in brighter news, a second report today showed sales of new homes last month surged by 4.9 percent, the biggest gain this year.

The weakness in manufacturing continued to reflect slumping demand by businesses for new equipment. This weakness, however, has been offset by continued strong consumer demand, which so far has been enough to keep the yearlong economic slowdown from turning into a recession.

On Thursday, the Labor Department reported the number of laid-off workers drawing unemployment benefits hit a nine-year high of 3.18 million, providing stark evidence of the toll the yearlong economic slowdown was taking on the nation's labor markets.

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