Washington: A gauge of planned US business spending was flat in September, a sign that heightened uncertainty is weighing on factories although new orders for long-lasting manufactured goods increased during the month.

Other data on Thursday showed the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell last week, giving a clearer sign that the labour market is healing after wild fluctuations in the data at the beginning of October.

New orders for capital goods outside of defence and excluding aircraft, a proxy for business spending plans, was unchanged last month at $60.3 billion, Commerce Department data showed.

That was short of economists’ expectations for a 0.7 per cent gain.

“The data then fits with yesterday’s Fed assessment that growth in business investment has slowed,” said Alan Ruskin, a currency strategist at Deutsche Bank in New York.

New orders for durables rose a higher-than-expected 9.9 per cent, partially reversing a sharp loss in August. Wild fluctuations in aircraft orders have generated much of the volatility.

Excluding transportation, new orders rose a more modest 2 per cent. Boeing received 143 orders in September, up from just one in August, according to information posted on the plane maker’s website.

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday warned that weakness in business investment contrasted with brighter economic signals from household spending.

JOBLESS CLAIMS:

Separately, the Labour Department said initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 23,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 369,000.

The prior week’s figure was revised slightly higher to show 4,000 more applications than previously reported.

A department analyst said the data showed no signs of the factors that had appeared to generate sharp swings in the claims reading over the prior two weeks.

The four-week moving average for jobless claims, which smoothes out such volatility, rose 1,500 to a 368,000.

Continuing claims for jobless benefits fell 2,000 in the week ended October 13 to a seasonally adjusted 3.254 million, the Labour Department said.