Data depict wariness at companies

WASHINGTON — Orders for U.S.-made big-ticket items rose less than expected last month as an uncertain economic outlook led businesses to keep a tight rein on spending plans, according to a report released Wednesday.

New orders for durable goods, meant to last more than three years, rose 2.5% in February after a 9.3% plunge the month before, the Commerce Department said. Economists on Wall Street had expected a 3.5% gain.

The report showed a big jump in aircraft orders, but excluding the volatile transport sector, orders were down 0.1%, the fourth drop in the last five months.

Testifying before the congressional Joint Economic Committee, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said the slumping housing market posed a risk to growth and noted business investment had decelerated more sharply than the Fed had expected.

“The magnitude of the slowing has been somewhat greater than would be expected given the normal evolution of the business cycle,” he said, although he added that the Fed still expected business spending on equipment and software to grow at a moderate pace this year.

Economists said the soft durable-goods report signaled more sluggish growth in the first quarter than anticipated.

“This is very weak,” said Chris Rupkey, senior financial economist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd. in New York. “This is what it looks like when we are going into a recession. I’ll be surprised if we don’t.”

The report showed orders for nondefense capital goods excluding aircraft, viewed as a proxy for business spending, fell 1.2% last month after declining 7.4% in January. Economists had expected a 2.3% gain.

“This weak report suggests that, at best, equipment spending will be flat relative to the fourth quarter, which we know was down from the third quarter,” said Cary Leahey, managing director at Decision Economics in New York. “It represents a manufacturing recession but, also, just a general sense of corporate caution.”

The rise in overall durable-goods orders could be largely attributed to an 88.4% surge in demand for civilian aircraft and a 29.2% gain in defense aircraft orders. Automotive orders advanced 1.3%.

Shipments of durable goods in February fell 0.8%.

A separate report Wednesday from the Mortgage Bankers Assn. showed U.S. mortgage applications fell 0.2% last week as refinancing activity slipped and demand for purchase loans held relatively steady.

Activity in the housing market is being scrutinized to see how much fallout there may be from a tightening of credit in sub-prime mortgages.

Foreclosures are rising among sub-prime borrowers, whose mortgage terms are typically more onerous than those of more creditworthy borrowers.