27 Feb
U.S. manufacturers try to ride out the storm
Manufacturers are hoping to ride out the worst U.S. and global economic storm in decades, but some fear that more pain lies ahead as demand plummets and a recovery could be tentative at best.
Executives at the Reuters Manufacturing Summit in Chicago this week characterized the near-term outlook and the velocity and time of a recovery as highly uncertain.
On a positive note, many said their companies were quick to respond to changing conditions by slashing production when economic activity fell off a cliff in late 2008.
In that vein, the U.S. Commerce Department on Thursday showed durable goods orders down 5.2 percent in January, a sixth consecutive monthly decline to a six-year low. December orders were revised down sharply as well.
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