By Sarah Chaney and Sharon Nunn 
 

WASHINGTON--Orders for U.S. manufactured goods fell 2.1% to a seasonally adjusted $502.68 billion in October, the Commerce Department said Thursday. Here are the report's key points:

---Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected a 2.0% decrease from the prior month.

---Excluding transportation, factory orders were up 0.3% in October from the previous month.

---Orders were down 0.4% on the month when excluding defense products, another sector that can skew headline figures.

---New orders for durable goods fell 4.3% from September.

Write to Sarah Chaney at sarah.chaney@wsj.com and Sharon Nunn at sharon.nunn@wsj.com.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 06, 2018 10:15 ET (15:15 GMT)