Industrials Higher After Factory Data -- Industrials Roundup

Shares of manufacturing and transportation companies ticked up after strong factory data.

Orders for U.S. manufactured goods rose 1.2% to a seasonally adjusted $471.68 billion in August, another sign of a pickup in activity in the industrial sector.

Aerospace company Boeing said it plans to acquire Aurora Flight Sciences, a maker of aerial drones and pilotless flying systems, in a move the company said could pave the way for fleets of small flying taxis.

The aftermath of hurricanes is likely to affect the U.S. jobs data. In the most recent weekly jobless claims report, issued Thursday, new jobless claims fell sharply, indicating hurricane-idled workers were getting back on the job.

"The timing of Irma's arrival in particular will weigh on employment growth, though to a muted degree given that only those workers paid weekly might have been counted as unemployed," said economists at brokerage Morgan Stanley, in a research note, in which they forecast a relatively muted increase in September payrolls of 120,000. The Morgan Stanley analysts noted that Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy had a more modest impact on payrolls than economists had anticipated at the time.

Rob Curran, rob.curran@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 05, 2017 17:10 ET (21:10 GMT)