Fifth increase in six months bolstered hopes that a revival in manufacturing will help support an overall economic recovery. The worry is that if consumer spending falters in coming months, orders will slump again.

Shrinking business activity, fewer new orders and lower employment sapped some modest momentum from the U.S. services sector in July, although economists said the setback likely was a blip and not the start of a troubling trend.

Orders to U.S. factories jumped in May by the largest amount in nearly a year, another sign that the nosedive in manufacturing is nearing an end. The Commerce Department said yesterday that total orders rose 1.2 percent in May, better than the 0.8 percent increase that economists had expected. The April performance was revised slightly lower to a gain of 0.5 percent, from 0.7 percent.