But measured against figures from February 1986, orders for American-made machine tools plunged 31 percent, to $145.1 million.

But the big surprise was that foreign orders declined slightly, by 0.4 percent, while domestic orders plunged 4.5 percent.

Industrial production and orders for manufactured goods plunged last month in Germany, the biggest European economy.

New orders plunged by more than a third.

But orders from foreign customers plunged by more than two-thirds.

Military orders plunged 34.9 percent in January after rising 24 percent in December.

During the same period, new orders plunged to $3.54 billion from $13.05 billion.

The department also said orders for nonmilitary capital goods - a barometer of business investment plans - plunged 16.8 percent, to $34.7 billion.

Military orders plunged 20 percent in January and an additional 18.6 percent in February.

Military orders plunged 14.7 percent, to $7.6 billion in July, following a 17.4 percent rise in June.