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Factory Shipments See Modest Gains as Nondurable Goods Lead

New orders for manufactured goods fell 0.4% in November, after falling for three of the past four months. When excluding transportation, new orders edged up 0.2%. Orders for durable goods dropped -1.2% after rising 0.7% in October. Year to date, durable goods orders are down 1.3%. Nondurable goods ticked up 0.4% in November after increasing 0.2% in October. Nondurable goods orders are up 1.4% year to date.

New orders for photographic equipment experienced the greatest increase of any industry at 19.0%, while ship and boat transportation had the largest over-the-month decrease of 13.6%. The largest over-the-year changes occurred in nondefense aircraft and parts (down 34.3%) and computers (up 19.7%).

Factory shipments increased 0.1% in November, after falling 0.2% in October. Shipments excluding transportation edged up 0.4%, above the 0.2% increase the previous month. Shipments for durable goods declined 0.2% in November, falling for the three previous months, but are up 1.6% year to date. Meanwhile, nondurable goods shipments inched up 0.4% in November and are up 1.4% year to date.

Unfilled orders for all manufacturing and durable goods industries rose 0.3% in November, following a 0.5% increase in October. The unfilled orders-to-shipments ratio for durable goods increased to 7.07 from 7.04 in October. Inventories rose 0.3%, while the inventories-to-shipments ratio edged up to 1.47 from 1.46 in October.

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