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New orders for manufactured goods fell 3.7% in April following four consecutive monthly increases. When excluding transportation, new orders slipped 0.5%. Orders for durable goods dropped 6.3%, following a 7.6% increase in March. Year to date, durable goods orders are up 4.2%. Nondurable goods orders ticked down 0.9% in April after declining 0.7% in March. Nondurable goods orders are down 0.1% over the year.

New orders for nondefense aircraft and parts led the decrease in durable goods, falling 51.5%, after leaping 158.5% in March. In April, the largest monthly increase occurred in ships and boats, which rose 92.1%, after slipping 4.7% the month prior. The largest over-the-year changes also occurred in nondefense aircraft and parts (up 85.5%) and mining, oil field and gas field machinery (down 9.7%).

Factory shipments decreased 0.3% in April, after slipping 0.2% in March. Shipments over the year increased 0.9%. Shipments excluding transportation fell 0.6% in April, following a 0.3% decrease the previous month. Shipments for durable goods improved 0.3% in April, up from a 0.2% increase in March and up 1.8% year to date. Meanwhile, nondurable goods shipments declined 0.9% in April and are down 0.1% year to date.

Unfilled orders for all manufacturing industries stayed the same in April, following a 1.6% increase in March. Inventories edged down 0.1%, after rising 0.1% for the past four months, and the inventories-to-shipments ratio rose to 1.58 from 1.57. The unfilled orders-to-shipments ratio for durable goods decreased to 6.77 from 6.86 in March.