Factory orders fall again - stimulus don't fail me now!

A mixed bag regarding the most recent factory orders report: January factory orders fell a lower-than-expected -1.9%, but the December 2008 factory order decline was revised to a steeper decline, to -4.6% from -3.9% stat released earlier, the U.S. Commerce Department announced Thursday.

Further, January's -1.9% drop marked the sixth straight monthly decline for factory orders, which were driven lower by slack durable goods orders. The six-month factory order contraction is the longest decline since the Commerce Department began keeping data for the statistic in 1992.