• Durable Goods Orders Sink by 4.5%

    On Tuesday, the U.S. Census Bureau announced the January advance report on durable goods manufacturers’ shipments, inventories and orders:

    New Orders

    • New orders for manufactured durable goods in January, down two of the last three months, decreased $13.0 billion or 4.5% to $272.3 billion. This followed a 5.1% December increase.
    • Excluding transportation, new orders increased 0.7%. Excluding defense, new orders decreased 5.1%.
    • Transportation equipment, also down two of the last three months, drove the decrease, $14.2 billion or 13.3% to $92.8 billion.

    Shipments

    Shipments of manufactured durable goods in January, down following sixteen consecutive monthly increases, decreased $0.2 billion or 0.1% to $277.2 billion. This followed a 0.4% December increase. Transportation equipment, down following ten consecutive monthly increases, drove the decrease, $1.6 billion or 1.7% to $92.2 billion.

    Unfilled Orders

    Unfilled orders for manufactured durable goods in January, up twenty-nine consecutive months, increased $0.3 billion or virtually unchanged to $1,157.0 billion. This followed a 1.1% December increase. Transportation equipment, up twenty-three of the last twenty-four months, drove the increase, $0.7 billion or 0.1% to $684.6 billion.

    Inventories

    Inventories of manufactured durable goods in January, down following twenty-three consecutive monthly increases, decreased $0.4 billion or 0.1% to $493.1 billion. This followed a 0.7% December increase. Transportation equipment, down following two consecutive monthly increases, led the decrease, $0.3 billion or 0.2% to $158.3 billion.

    Capital Goods

    Nondefense new orders for capital goods in January decreased $15.2 billion or 15.3% to $83.9 billion. Shipments decreased $0.8 billion or 1.0% to $84.3 billion. Unfilled orders decreased $0.4 billion or 0.1% to $664.1 billion. Inventories decreased $0.5 billion or 0.2% to $218.5 billion. Defense new orders for capital goods in January increased $0.6 billion or 3.8% to $15.8 billion. Shipments decreased $0.2 billion or 1.2% to $14.9 billion. Unfilled orders increased $0.9 billion or 0.5% to $189.2 billion. Inventories increased $0.2 billion or 0.9% to $23.2 billion.

    Sources: census.gov