WASHINGTON — Businesses ordered more factory goods in November, responding to stronger consumer demand for household appliances, computers and furniture.

The Commerce Department says that total orders increased 0.7 percent in November. That follows a 0.7 percent drop in October.

The overall figure was pulled down by a drop in volatile transportation orders.

Excluding aircraft and autos, orders rose 2.4 percent – the largest jump for that category in eight months.

The November increase left total orders at $424.5 billion. Economists consider that a healthy range for manufacturing activity. It’s 20.4 percent above the recession low, hit in March 2009.

Manufacturing activity has expanded in every month since the recession officially ended in June 2009. Analysts said November’s increase in factory orders should translate into further gains in production in 2011.

In other economic news, unemployment rates rose in more than two-thirds of the nation’s largest metro areas in November, a sharp reversal from the previous month and the most since June.

The Labor Department said Tuesday that unemployment rates rose in 258 of the 372 largest cities, fell in 88 and remained the same in 26.

Metro areas in states with the weakest housing markets, such as California, Nevada, Florida and Georgia, are seeing ongoing increases in unemployment.

“The areas really affected by the housing bust have yet to come back,” said Jim Diffley, a regional economist at IHS Global Insight.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 20.43 points, or 0.2 percent, to end the day at 11,691.18.

The broader S&P 500 index dipped 1.69 points, or 0.1 percent, to close at 1,270.20. The Nasdaq lost 10.27 points, or 0.4 percent, to 2,681.25.