NEW YORK (Reuters) - The slowdown in the U.S. housing and auto markets is spreading into other corners of the manufacturing world, the head of Illinois Tool Works said on Tuesday.
"We've seen it rippling across other areas," ITW Chief Executive David Speer said at the Reuters Manufacturing Summit in New York.
"Certainly the building materials areas that are related to construction have slowed," he said. "The metals industry has slowed. We've seen it in some of the durable goods, certainly the white goods area. We've seen a general slowing around most industrial end markets."
Speer's comments came after the U.S. Commerce Department reported that new orders for U.S. made durable goods fell by a much worse-than-expected 7.8 percent in January as a steep drop in civilian airliner orders helped push orders for nondefense goods to their biggest monthly decline on record.
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