The US economy remains under pressure due to the economic damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. According to experts, the US manufacturing sector incurred serious losses because of the pandemic.

The volume of new orders for manufactured goods plunged by 10.3% in March, the US Department of Commerce reported. Such a severe downfall was mainly due to anti-epidemic measures designed to slow down the coronavirus spread, including the shutdown of factories. Experts note that the figure marked its largest decrease on record for the past few weeks. According to analysts at Trading Economics, factory orders were expected to fall by 9.8%.

Many analysts pinpoint that the indicator crushed in March after a 41.3% drop in transport equipment orders. Excluding transport equipment, orders for products from the plants sank by 3.7%.

What is more, in March, US durable goods orders also plunged by 14.7%, notching its biggest drop since August of 2014. Experts think that durable and factory orders are likely to decline further.