GLOBAL SLUMP STILL HURTING U.S. MANUFACTURERS.(BUSINESS)

Byline: JEANNINE AVERSA Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- Orders for big-ticket manufactured goods fell an unexpectedly sharp 2.3 percent last month, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. Private economists did not regard the drop as a major setback to U.S. factories' recovery from a global financial crisis.

The decline, the second in three months, was driven by falling orders for transportation and defense goods. Without big declines in these two areas, orders for durable goods would have risen a strong 2.9 percent, the government said.

The overall decline in durable goods, which are items expected to last three or more years, followed a solid …