WASHINGTON – Signs that U.S. manufacturing is faltering emerged from a report Friday that orders for long-lasting factory goods, excluding the volatile transportation category, fell in July for the fourth time in five months.

Overall orders for durable goods rose a seasonally adjusted 4.2 percent in July, the Commerce Department said. But excluding aircraft and other transportation goods, orders dropped 0.4 percent.

Durable goods are items meant to last at least three years. Orders for so-called core capital goods, a key measure of business investment plans, fell 3.4 percent. That’s the biggest drop since November and the fourth decline in five months. And June’s figure was revised down to show a drop of 2.7 percent — much worse than the initial estimate of a 1.7 percent fall.

“This is a very weak report,” Paul Ashworth, an economist at Capital Economics, said in a note to clients.

Core capital goods include computers, industrial machinery and steel. The steady decline in such orders suggests that companies are worried that the economy will slow and are reducing investment.

Europe’s financial crisis has pushed that region to the brink of recession, threatening exports of U.S. goods. Economies in China, India and Brazil are also growing more slowly.

The U.S. economy is also at risk of going off a “fiscal cliff” at the end of the year. That’s when tax increases and deep spending cuts will take effect unless Congress reaches a budget agreement.

The slowdown in manufacturing could encourage the Federal Reserve to step up its efforts to stimulate the economy. At the Fed’s last meeting, policymakers signaled that they were moving closer to launching another round of bond-buying, according to minutes released Wednesday. The goal would be to lower longer-term interest rates to encourage more borrowing and spending.

“Ignore the headline jump; the slump in capital goods orders will only strengthen the Fed’s resolve to act soon,” Ashworth said.

 

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