Signs that the beleaguered US manufacturing economy may be beginning to turn the corner emerged this afternoon as new figures showed factory orders for manufactured goods rose 2.2pc in March from the previous month. This is the largest monthly increase since July 2002. The rise in orders was notably larger than expected. A consensus forecast of Wall Street economists called for orders to rise 0.5pc in March. Factory orders fell a revised 1.0pc in February, down from the initial estimate that orders fell 1.5pc. Year-on-year, factory orders rose 3.6pc in March. The strength in overall orders in March was widespread. Orders for durable goods rose a revised 1.5pc in March, down from the advance estimate last week which indicated that orders rose 2.0pc. The rise in durable goods orders is the largest monthly increase since January. Orders for non-durable goods rose 3.0pc in March following a 0.9pc drop in February.//www.fxcentre.com