Input Stories

Factory orders for durable goods inched up in October (Reuters).

What’s going on: “Factory orders increased 0.2% after a revised 0.2% fall in September, the Commerce Department’s Census Bureau said on Wednesday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast factory orders would rebound 0.2% after a previously reported 0.5% decline in September. Factory orders rose 0.4% on a year-on-year basis in October.”

Unfilled orders and inventories: Unfilled orders, which have been up 50 of the past 51 months, rose $6.1 billion, or 0.4%, to $1,398.8 billion. This followed a 0.3% rise in September (Seeking Alpha).

• Inventories, which have been on the decline two months in a row, fell $0.4 billion, or 0.1%, to $856.8 billion. It came after a 0.3% dip in September.
• The inventories-to-shipments ratio—a measure of the time required to use all finished products if shipments stayed at current levels—was unchanged from September, at 1.46.

Nondefense capital goods, core capital goods: Order for nondefense capital goods excluding aircraft—widely viewed as a measure of business spending plans on equipment—declined 0.2% in October (Reuters).

• Meanwhile, “[s]hipments of core capital goods increased 0.3% instead of rising 0.2%, as estimated last month.”