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New orders for manufactured goods rose 1.7% in January, after two months of decline. When excluding transportation, new orders edged up 0.2%. Orders for durable goods jumped 3.2%, following a 1.8% decrease in December. Year to date, durable goods orders are up 4.3%. Nondurable goods orders ticked up 0.3% in January after increasing 0.5% in December. Nondurable goods orders are up 2.8% year to date.

New orders for nondefense aircraft and parts led the increase in durable goods by leaping 93.9%, after shrinking 28.9% last month. In January, the largest monthly decrease occurred in ships and boats, which declined 11.0%. The largest over-the-year changes also occurred in nondefense aircraft and parts (up 122.2%) and ships and boats (down 13.5%).

Factory shipments increased 0.4% in January, after rising 0.6% in December. Shipments excluding transportation edged up 0.2%, the same as the previous month. Shipments for durable goods improved 0.5% in January, down from 0.8% in December but up 2.6% year to date. Meanwhile, nondurable goods shipments rose 0.3% in January and are up 2.8% year to date.

Unfilled orders for all manufacturing industries rose 0.2% in January, following a 0.3% decrease in December. Inventories rose 0.1%, while the inventories-to-shipments ratio remained the same at 1.46. The unfilled orders-to-shipments ratio for durable goods decreased to 6.85 from 6.93 in December.