WASHINGTON — Orders to U.S. factories for big-ticket manufactured goods posted an unexpectedly strong showing in September — the largest gain in three months — on a surge in demand for airplanes and autos, government data showed Wednesday.

The Commerce Department reported Wednesday that orders for durable goods rose by 0.8 percent, surprising economists who had expected a decline.

Orders had fallen by 5.5 percent in August, which was the biggest setback in nearly two years.

The big increase in orders for motor vehicles probably reflected the use of incentive packages by automakers trying to spur lagging demand during a generally dismal sales year. Orders for motor vehicles and parts had fallen by a sharp 8.8 percent in August.

TOKYO — Sony's second-quarter profits have plunged 72 percent with a surging yen wiping out the benefits of solid flat-panel TV and PlayStation 3 game machine sales.The Japanese electronics and entertainment company reported Wednesday net profit of $214 million for the period from July through September, down 71.8 percent from the previous year.Revenue from Sony's hit movie "Hancock" wasn't enough to offset the hammering the maker of the Walkman portable player is taking from the strong yen.A rising yen erodes the value of overseas profits for Japanese exporters like Sony.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve said Wednesday that it will supply new lines of credit to the central banks of Brazil, Mexico, South Korea and Singapore to help those countries deal with the global credit crisis.The Fed will provide up to $30 billion to each of the central banks.It is the latest in a series of "swap" arrangements where the Fed provides dollars in exchange for reserves of the other nations' currencies.The central bank said the new credit lines, like those already established with other countries, were designed "to help improve liquidity conditions in global financial markets" by increasing the global availability of U.S. dollars.