--US January durable goods orders -6.0%; ex-transportation -0.3%
--US January transportation equipment orders -22.4%
--Ex-defense, US January durable goods orders -6.0%
--Ex-defense and aircraft, US Jan capital goods shipments unchanged
--Ex-defense and aircraft, US January capital goods orders +6.5%
--US January durable goods shipments -1.7%; unfilled orders -0.2%
--US January metals orders -0.6%; industrial machines +5.7%
--US January electronic equipment orders -6.2%
--US January civilian aircraft orders -49.3%
--US December durable goods orders revised to +1.2% from +2.1%

By Simon Kennedy, BridgeNews
Washington--Feb. 27--U.S. manufacturing activity continued to deteriorate in January, with durable goods orders falling 6.0% amid sharp drops in civilian aircraft and other transportation equipment orders, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. The decline, the first since October, was double the 2.8% drop projected by analysts. However, excluding transportation, January durable goods orders slipped just 0.3%.
* * * December's durable goods orders were revised to up 1.2% from the 2.1% increase previously reported.
In January, durable goods shipments fell 1.7%, the fourth straight monthly drop. Unfilled orders were down 0.2%.
Excluding defense, new orders for durable goods fell 6.0% in January. Although erratic, the durable goods data--which measures demand for goods designed to last three years or more--is widely watched as an indicator of general economic health because purchases for such "big ticket" items are usually sensitive to interest rate shifts.
Private estimates in the BridgeNews survey for January durable goods orders ranged from down 6.0% to up 0.5%.
The contraction in orders is another sign that manufacturing is still struggling amid high interest rates, slowing demand and spiking energy prices.
The National Association of Purchasing Management's new orders index dropped in 37.8 in January, its lowest level since November 1981. In cutting interest rates by 100 basis points since Jan. 3, the Federal Reserve has reacted to such toils and is expected to chop borrowing costs again in coming weeks to prop up an ailing economy.
MAIN COMPONENTS:
--Transportation equipment orders fell 22.4% in January. All components fell but the biggest decline was in civilian aircraft orders, which plummeted 49.3%.
--Electronic and other electrical equipment orders slid 6.2%.
--Primary metals orders declined 0.6%, their fourth consecutive fall.
--However, industrial machinery and equipment orders climbed 5.7%--the sharpest rise in a year--led by computers and office equipment.
CAPITAL GOODS, ORDERS AND SHIPMENTS:
--Shipments of non-defense capital goods, excluding aircraft, a handy indicator of future capital spending by businesses, were flat for the second consecutive month in January.
--New orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, said by some to be the "core" orders series and an indicator of business investment, were up 6.5% for the latest month. They were unchanged from a year earlier.
Benchmark revisions to the durable goods series will be released May 25 and include data from 1992 through December 2000. End