WASHINGTON – Manufactured goods orders to US factories rose 1.8% in May, matching growth in April, the Commerce Department says.

This is a strong improvement over the economists’ expectation of a 0.6% decline.

Non-defense capital goods orders were up 4.8%, the largest increase in nearly five years.

Excluding transportation, durable goods orders were up 1.1% in May. Transportation products demand rose 3.6%, with commercial aircraft orders surging 68.1%.

However, demand for motor vehicles and parts dropped 8.1%. Machinery orders increased 7.7%, and demand for computers and related products rose 9.4%, say published reports.

Nevertheless, new home sales fell 0.6% during the month, the Commerce Department says. Sales were down nearly 33% year-over-year.

BANNOCKBURN, IL – North American PWB shipments in May dropped 32.2% year-over-year, while orders decreased 24.8% compared to May 2008, says IPC.

HONG KONG – Dow Epoxy, a business unit of The Dow Chemical Company, will increase prices for its epoxy resins in Asia Pacific.

Effective July 1, the firm will increase the prices for its liquid, liquid blend, solid, solid solution, brominated epoxy resin and epoxy novolac resin products by $100/MT.

The increase will be implemented immediately as contracts allow.

KENT, UK – April semiconductor sales were up 15.6% sequentially, says Future Horizons. March numbers were down 7.6%.

April showed the best sequential growth since the same month in 1955, according to the research firm’s recent report.