News & Insights

New orders for manufactured goods inched up 0.1% in January following a 0.4% decrease in December. Meanwhile, new orders for manufactured goods grew 3.5% over the year. When excluding transportation, new orders rose 0.4% over the month and 0.6% year-over-year in January. Orders for durable goods stayed the same following a 0.9% decline in December. Year to date, durable goods orders jumped 9.1%. Nondurable goods orders advanced 0.3% in January after ticking up 0.1% in December. Nondurable goods orders decreased 1.8% over the year.

New orders for ships and boats led the rise in durable goods orders, surging 10.9% following December’s 5.8% drop. In January, the largest monthly decrease occurred in defense aircraft and parts, which plummeted 23.8% after gaining 11.8% in December. The largest over-the-year changes occurred in nondefense aircraft and parts (up 93.8%) and metalworking machinery (down 8.9%).

Factory shipments rose 0.5% in January after increasing 0.7% in December. Shipments over the year grew 1.4%. Shipments excluding transportation moved up 0.4% in January following a 0.5% gain the previous month. Shipments for durable goods stepped up 0.6% following a 1.2% rise in December and are up 4.8% year to date. Meanwhile, nondurable goods shipments increased 0.3%, after ticking up 0.1% the prior month, and have declined 1.8% year to date.

Unfilled orders for all manufacturing industries increased 0.8% in January after rising 0.9% in December. Unfilled orders over the year jumped 11.1%. Inventories stepped up 0.8% year-over-year. The inventories-to-shipments ratio edged down from 1.56 to 1.55 in January. Meanwhile, the unfilled orders-to-shipments ratio for durable goods stayed the same at 7.01 from December.