Economic Data and Growth

New orders for manufactured goods were virtually unchanged in February after staying the same in January. Meanwhile, new orders for manufactured goods increased 3.7% over the year. When excluding transportation, new orders rose 1.2% over the month and 1.7% year-over-year in February. Orders for durable goods declined 1.3%, following a 0.4% decrease in January. Year to date, durable goods orders jumped 8.2%. Meanwhile, nondurable goods orders grew 1.5% in February after advancing 0.5% in January. On the other hand, nondurable goods orders edged down 0.6% over the year.

In February, the largest monthly increase occurred in mining, oil field and gas field machinery, which surged 14.2% after a 7.0% gain in January. The largest decline occurred in nondefense aircraft and parts, which plummeted 28.6% after falling 1.7% the prior month. The largest over-the-year changes occurred in nondefense aircraft and parts (up 60.8%) and photographic equipment (down 15.6%).

Factory shipments rose 1.4% in February, after increasing 0.7% in January. Shipments grew 2.7% over the year. Shipments excluding transportation similarly increased 1.4% in February, following a 0.5% uptick the previous month. Shipments for durable goods similarly moved up 1.4% in February, following a 0.9% rise in January, and are up 6.2% year to date. Meanwhile, nondurable goods shipments climbed 1.5%, after advancing 0.5% the prior month, and have declined 0.6% year to date.

Unfilled orders for all manufacturing industries edged up 0.1% in February, after increasing 0.6% in January. Unfilled orders over the year jumped 11.0%. Inventories inched up 0.1% month-over-month and 0.7% year-over-year. The inventories-to-shipments ratio declined from 1.55 in January to 1.53 in February. The unfilled orders-to-shipments ratio for durable goods moved down to 6.92 in February from 6.99 in January.