New orders for U.S. factory goods posted their biggest decline on record in August, payback for an aircraft-driven jump a month earlier. The Commerce Department said on Thursday new orders for manufactured goods dropped 10.1 percent. That was the largest drop in records going back to 1992. Stripping out transportation orders which were depressed by a plunge in the volatile aircraft component, new orders were down a more modest 0.1 percent. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast total new orders received by factories would decline 9.3 percent. The U.S. manufacturing sector continues to expand, although growth may ... (full story)