Factory Orders Increase While Shipments Hold Steady

New orders for manufactured goods increased 0.1% in August after rising 0.8% in July. Meanwhile, new orders for manufactured goods rose 6.8% over the year. Excluding transportation, new orders climbed 0.3% over the month and 7.3% year-over-year in August. Durable goods orders edged down 0.1% after increasing 0.9% in July. Year to date, durable goods orders advanced 7.7%. Meanwhile, nondurable goods orders grew 5.8% over the year.

In August, the largest monthly gain occurred in mining, oil field and gas field machinery, which rose 9.5% after moving up 2.2% in July. On the other hand, the largest monthly decline occurred in industrial machinery, which fell 7.5% after jumping 9.9% the prior month. The largest over-the-year changes occurred in industrial machinery (up 39.3%) and nondefense aircraft and parts (down 22.1%).

Factory shipments stayed the same in August, after increasing 0.8% in July. Shipments grew 7.1% over the year. Shipments excluding transportation stepped up 0.4% in August, after rising 0.7% the previous month. Durable goods shipments declined 0.3%, after moving up 0.9% in July, and were up 8.4% year to date. Meanwhile, nondurable goods shipments rose 0.3% after moving up 0.7% the prior month and are up 5.8% year to date.

Unfilled orders for all manufacturing industries increased 0.6% in August after the same gain in July. Unfilled orders over the year jumped 8.8%. Inventories stepped up 0.5% month-over-month and 2.7% year-over-year. The inventories-to-shipments ratio ticked up from 1.47 in July to 1.48 in August. The unfilled order-to-shipments ratio for durable goods rose from 6.81 in July to 6.87 in August.