An increase in orders is encouraging news for the manufacturing industry. Responding to a July Census Bureau report that factory orders increased by 2.5% in May while inventories declined by 0.3%, Jerry Jasinowski, president of the National Association of Manufacturers, says, "The rise in orders is quite encouraging and points to a fragile but emerging recovery."

Jasinowski says that the semiconductor industry is leading the way with a 32.5% increase and the auto industry followed suit with order increases across the board. Nondurables increased by nearly 2% and electronics orders increased by 2.3%. Although this is positive news, Jasinowski suggests remaining "somewhat guarded in the face of some serious global economic problems that could keep growth slow over the next few months."