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New orders for manufactured goods fell another 0.5% in September, after falling 0.8% in August. When excluding transportation equipment, new orders edged up 0.1%. Orders for durable goods dropped 0.7% after falling 0.9% in August. Year to date, durable goods orders are down 1.5%. Nondurable goods fell 0.2% in September after declining 0.7% in August. Nonetheless, nondurable goods orders are up 1.4% year to date.

New orders for turbines, generators, and other power transmission equipment experienced the greatest increase of any industry at 4.9%, while the defense aircraft and parts had the largest over the month decrease of 23.7%. After falling 17.9% in August, mining, oil field and gas field machinery orders are back up 3.3% in September. The largest over the year changes were in nondefense aircraft and parts, which are down 33.4%, and computers, which are up 23.2%.

Factory shipments decreased 0.4% in September, after falling 0.7% in August. Shipments excluding transportation were unchanged, following a 0.4% decline the previous month. Shipments for durable goods were down 0.5% in September but are up 1.6% year to date. Meanwhile, nondurable goods shipments fell 0.2% in September but are up 1.4% year to date.

Unfilled orders rose 0.2% in September, following a 0.2% increase in August. The unfilled orders-to-shipments ratio for durable goods increased to 6.94 from 6.86 in August. Inventories saw a slight decrease of 0.2%, while the inventories-to-shipments ratio remained unchanged at 1.46.