Nation : ‘Big Ticket’ Orders Up Strongly

WASHINGTON — Orders for “big ticket” durable goods, excluding the volatile defense category, shot up 1.8% in November, the best showing since August, the government reported today.

The Commerce Department said that total durable goods orders edged up only 0.1% to $122.89 billion last month, but the overall figure was held back by a sharp 17.6% drop in military orders. Excluding the defense decline, total orders would have risen by 1.8% following a 0.2% increase in October. It was the best showing since a 5.2% surge in non-defense orders in August.