US factory orders slump in April as spending on tariff anticipation fades

Orders from United States factories have tumbled in April after a surge in March when businesses had front-loaded purchases in anticipation of tariffs. Aircraft orders fell by 51.5 percent in April. Electrical equipment, appliances and component manufacturing fell by 0.3 percent. Excluding transportation, which led the surge in March orders, orders fell 0.5 percent, matching March’s decline of non-transportation goods. Shipments of these so-called core capital goods fell by an unrevised 0.1 percent, or $1.8bn.