Durable-goods orders fall 3.6% in April

U.S. businesses cut back on their orders for heavy machinery, computers, autos and airplanes in April, reducing demand for long-lasting manufactured goods by the largest amount in six months.

Orders for durable goods fell 3.6 percent, and a key category that serves as a proxy for business investment was down 2.8 percent, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday.

The weakness was widespread across a number of industries as the impact of supply disruptions stemming from the Japanese earthquake in March rippled through U.S. manufacturing. Demand for autos, auto parts, steel, computers and electronic equipment all fell, and those declines were attributed, in part, to difficulty in getting critical component parts from Japan.