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New orders for manufactured goods fell 0.9% in December, after declining for four of the past five months. When excluding transportation, new orders edged up 0.3%. Orders for durable goods dropped 2.2%, following a 2.0% decrease in November. Year to date, durable goods orders are down 1.5%. Nondurable goods ticked up 0.3% in December after increasing 0.4% in November. Nondurable goods orders are up 1.5% year to date.

New orders for ventilation, heating, air-conditioning and refrigeration equipment experienced the greatest increase of any industry at 6.2%, while nondefense aircraft and parts had the largest over-the-month decrease of a staggering 45.7%. The largest over-the-year changes occurred in nondefense aircraft and parts (down 36.2%) and computers (up 18.4%).

Factory shipments increased 0.6% in December, after rising 0.1% in November. Shipments excluding transportation edged up 0.2%, down slightly from the 0.3% increase the previous month. Shipments for durable goods improved 0.9% in December, after falling for the four previous months, and are up 1.8% year to date. Meanwhile, nondurable goods shipments rose 0.3% in December and are up 1.5% year to date.

Unfilled orders for all manufacturing industries fell 0.5% in December, following a 0.2% increase in November. Inventories rose 0.4%, while the inventories-to-shipments ratio edged down to 1.46 from 1.47 in November. The unfilled orders-to-shipments ratio for durable goods decreased to 6.93 in December from 7.06.