WASHINGTON, May 2 (Xinhua) -- U.S. factory orders for March climbed 0.9 percent on hefty orders for commercial aircraft, according to data released by the Commerce Department on Tuesday.

The jump came on the heels of two consecutive months of declines and missed economists' expectations of a 1.2 percent increase.

Stripping out orders for transportation, factory orders dropped 0.7 percent.

New orders for manufactured goods in March increased by 4.9 billion U.S. dollars to 539.0 billion dollars.

Orders for manufactured durable goods saw a 3.2 percent uptick in March to 276.2 billion dollars, and shipments of manufactured durable goods increased by 1.1 percent to 277.1 billion dollars.

Inventories of manufactured durable goods in March decreased by 0.9 percent to 488.8 billion dollars, following a 0.1 percent increase in February.