The Commerce Department released a report on Tuesday showing a steep drop in new orders for U.S. manufactured goods in the month of January.
The report said factory orders plunged by 3.6 percent in January after falling by a revised 0.3 percent in December.
Economists had expected factory orders to tumble by 2.9 percent compared to the 0.2 percent uptick originally reported for the previous month.
The Commerce Department said durable goods orders plummeted by 6.2 percent during the month, while orders for non-durable goods slumped by 1.1 percent.