Economic Data and Growth

New orders for manufactured goods decreased 0.7% in December following a 2.7% increase in November. Meanwhile, new orders for manufactured goods grew 3.7% over the year. When excluding transportation, new orders inched up 0.4% over the month and 0.9% year-over-year in December. Orders for durable goods declined 1.4% following a 5.4% rise in November. Year to date, durable goods orders jumped 7.8%. Nondurable goods orders stayed the same in December after ticking down 0.1% in November. Nondurable goods orders decreased 0.3% over the year.

New orders for nondefense aircraft and parts led the decrease in durable goods orders, falling 24.8% following November’s 98.2% surge. In December, the largest monthly increase occurred in defense search and navigation equipment, which climbed 26.9% after declining 8.7% in November. The largest over-the-year changes occurred in nondefense aircraft and parts (up 106.2%) and photographic equipment (down 5.4%).

Factory shipments rose 0.5% in December after edging down 0.2% in November. Shipments over the year grew 1.7%. Shipments excluding transportation increased 0.4% in December following a 0.1% gain the previous month. Shipments for durable goods moved up 1.0% following a 0.3% decline in November and are up 3.7% year to date. Meanwhile, nondurable goods shipments stayed the same after ticking down 0.1% the prior month, and have declined 0.3% year to date.

Unfilled orders for all manufacturing industries increased 0.9% in December after rising 1.4% in November. Unfilled orders over the year jumped 10.3%. Inventories stepped up 0.9% year-over-year. The inventories-to-shipments ratio edged down from 1.57 to 1.56 in December. Meanwhile, the unfilled orders-to-shipments ratio for durable goods moved down to 7.01 from 7.04 in November.