share: digg facebook twitter WASHINGTON (AP) — Businesses requested more airplanes, autos, and oil drilling equipment in May The jump in factory orders after a sluggish spring suggests supply disruptions stemming from the Japan crisis are fading. [...] that was partly because oil prices dropped. [...] this spring, manufacturing had been one of the strongest sectors of the economy since the recession ended two years ago. Economists largely blamed the weak period on high gas prices and the impact of the March 11th earthquake in Japan, which led to a parts shortage that has hampered U.S.