The turnaround from August signals an economic resurgence.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Orders to U.S. factories rebounded in September, rising by 0.5 percent in another signal pointing to an economic resurgence.

That marked a turnaround from the 0.3 percent dip reported for August, according to revised figures released by the Commerce Department on Wednesday. That decline for August turned out to be not as deep as the 0.8 percent drop the government previously reported.

September’s performance was slightly weaker than the 0.6 percent increase economists were forecasting.

Gains were led by big-ticket goods including cars, machinery and furniture.

The report is consistent with a “rebounding economy and recovering manufacturing,” said economist Ken Mayland, president of ClearView Economics.

In a more forward-looking report, manufacturing in October posted its highest level of activity in nearly four years, the Institute for Supply Management said this week.

The good economic news did not lift spirits on Wall Street, where the Dow Jones industrial average lost 18 points to close at 9,820.83.

Amid signs the economy is gaining ground, the Federal Reserve last week decided to hold a main short-term interest rate at a 45-year low of 1 percent and suggested it could stay at such low levels for some time.

The economy grew at a 7.2 percent annual rate in the third quarter – the fastest pace in nearly two decades. Economists believe the economy will slow to a still-solid rate of around 4 percent in the current quarter.

Even with the economy improving, it will take awhile for job seekers to find relief, economists say.

Manufacturing has lost millions of jobs over the last three years as factories coped with economic hard times at home and abroad and sought to compete with a flood of imported products. Manufacturers by boosting productivity also have been able to produce more with fewer workers.

In Wednesday’s report, orders for all “durable” goods – big-ticket items, such as cars and machinery, expected to last at least three years – went up by 1.1 percent in September. That compared with a 0.1 percent dip in August.

For “nondurables,” orders decreased by 0.2 percent in September – nonetheless an improvement over the 0.6 percent drop in August.

Falling orders for tobacco, leather goods and paper products blunted rising orders for food, chemicals and plastics.

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On the Net:

Factory orders: http://www.commerce.gov/

AP-ES-11-05-03 1745EST