Durable Goods Orders Dive 5% in February

American manufacturers fighting to recover from the world economic slump suffered a setback in February as new orders for airplanes, electronics and other big-ticket goods took their sharpest drop in more than seven years, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday.

Orders slumped 5% to a seasonally adjusted $192 billion, about double the drop predicted by economists and the worst since December 1991.

Analysts had been encouraged by significant gains in durable goods orders of 3.3% in January and 3.4% in December.

A huge 32% drop in civilian aircraft orders explained much of the February decline in orders for durable goods.

Orders plunged 37.9% for military goods, 9.4% for transportation equipment other than aircraft, and 8.5% for electronic equipment.