Capital appropriations rose 1.1% in the quarter.

A Conference Board survey showed that 1,000 of the biggest manufacturers in the United States approved for spending on new plants and equipment in the third quarter of last year a total of $20.2 billion, the first quarterly increase for 1986. Appropriations for the first three quarters of 1986 were down 22.1% from the same period of 1985, the Conference Board added. Actual capital spending by the firms fell 5.8% in the third quarter to $22.9 billion. That was down from $24.3 billion in the second quarter, the business-supported research group reported.