New orders for manufactured durable goods increased by 4.6 percent in December to $230.7 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. The December bump comes after the 0.7-percent increase measured in November; manufacturing has increased in seven of the past eight months. Orders for transportation equipment soared by 11.9 percent to $75.9 billion, significant growth after two months of declines. A $2.9 billion increase in shipments of manuf...