THE ECONOMY

Orders Fall for American-Made Machine Tools: The widely watched barometer of future industrial activity fell 20% in July from June, as auto industry demand cooled after a strong first half, a trade group reported. The Assn. for Manufacturing Technology said orders for the month totaled $250.8 million, down from $313.7 million in June. Compared with July 1992, orders were up 22%. Year-to-date machine tool orders stood at $2.02 billion, up 37% over the same period a year earlier. Machine tool manufacturers reported July export orders of $17.6 million, up 40% over June. Foreign orders for U.S.-produced metal-forming equipment was up 169.7%, while orders for metal cutting devices rose 20%. Year-to-date export orders were $183.3 million, down 4.3% over the same period in 1992. The overall order backlog for July was $1.51 billion, up from $1.50 billion in June.