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Core capital goods, the category used as a proxy for business investment, showed gains of 0.2 percent in September and 0.3 percent in August but those tiny increases followed big declines of 5.6 percent in July and 2.7 percent in June. In the July-September period, business investment in equipment and computer software was flat, the weakest performance since the April-June quarter of 2009 when the country was in recession. The overall economy grew at a 2 percent annual rate in the July-September quarter. That was a slight improvement over the 1.3 percent growth in the April-June period but the economy needs to be expanding at much faster rates to achieve a sustained improvement in unemployment. In one hopeful sign, U.S. manufacturing expanded for a second month in October. The Institute for Supply Management said Thursday that its index of factory activity rose in October to 51.7, up from September's reading of 51.5. A reading above 50 indicates expansion. Previous surveys showed that manufacturing had contracted from June through August. The ISM survey was completed before Hurricane Sandy disrupted business activit6y along the East Coast.
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