New Orders Drop in January; Jobless Claims Take a Jump

New orders for manufactured goods dropped sharply in January, the government said Thursday, while the number of people applying for unemployment benefits jumped late last month.

Economists said the recent measures of economic activity, although not cause for alarm, add up to a slowdown in the recovery’s pace this year.

A big drop in demand for new aircraft helped pull factory orders down 1.3% in January to a seasonally adjusted $254.9 billion--the sharpest fall in monthly business since a 2.2% drop in August, the Commerce Department said. But it did not totally erase December’s big 6.1% rise in orders.

Separately, the Labor Department said the number of applicants for state unemployment benefits climbed in the third week of February from the prior week by 26,000, to 351,000. That was still 100,000 lower than the average rate of applications a year earlier.

“The overall picture is one of a moderating economy,” said economist Lynn Reaser of First Interstate Bancorp in Los Angeles.

The economy expanded strongly in the final three months of 1992 at a 4.8% annual rate, its most vigorous performance in five years.

Reaser estimated that the nation’s gross domestic product, which measures all goods and services produced, is growing only at a 2.9% rate in the first quarter.

By one measure in the Labor Department’s weekly report--the four-week moving average for initial claims, which irons out seasonal fluctuations and holidays--the job situation was about flat or slightly better in February.

It showed that jobless claims on average inched down to 334,250 in the week ended Feb. 20, from 334,500 the prior week.

It was the lowest since 327,250 in the final week of September, 1989.