News

New orders for manufactured goods rose 0.2% in October, after falling the previous two months. When excluding transportation, new orders edged up 0.1%. Orders for durable goods rose 0.3% after falling 0.4% in September. Year to date, durable goods orders are down 0.8%. Nondurable goods ticked up 0.1% in October after declining 0.1% in September. Nonetheless, nondurable goods orders are up 1.5% year to date.

New orders for mining, oil field and gas field machinery experienced the greatest increase of any industry at 17.4%, while metalworking machinery had the largest over-the-month decrease of 5.9%. After falling 23.0% in September, defense aircraft and parts orders are rose 16.6% in October. The largest over-the-year changes occurred in nondefense aircraft and parts (down 30.2%) and computers (up 21.5%).

Factory shipments decreased 0.2% in October, after falling 0.4% in September. Shipments excluding transportation edged up 0.1%, the same increase as the previous month. Shipments for durable goods declined 0.5% in October but are up 1.8% year to date. Meanwhile, nondurable goods shipments inched up 0.1% in October and are up 1.5% year to date.

Unfilled orders for all manufacturing and durable goods industries rose 0.4% in October, following a 0.3% increase in September. The unfilled orders-to-shipments ratio for durable goods increased to 7.03 from 6.97 in September. Inventories saw a slight decrease of 0.1%, while the inventories-to-shipments ratio remained unchanged at 1.46.