Wednesday, June 03, 2009
New orders for manufactured goods in April, up two of the last three months, increased $2.5 billion or 0.7 percent to $344.4 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau reported today. This followed a 1.9 percent March decrease. Excluding transportation, new orders increased 0.1 percent. All of April's increase was due to a 1.7% rise in durable goods orders, the largest increase since December 2007.
Durable orders were helped by a 5.8% gain in transportation, a 3.6% rise in fabricated metal products, a 0.6% gain in machinery and a 0.9% increase in electrical equipment and appliance orders. These gains more than offset a 2.7% decline in computers and electronics and a 4.1% decline in furniture and related products.
Shipments
Shipments, down nine consecutive months, decreased $0.8 billion or 0.2 percent to $357.3 billion. This was the longest streak of consecutive monthly decreases since the series was first published on a NAICS basis in 1992 and followed a 1.8 percent March decrease.
Unfilled Orders
Unfilled orders, down seven consecutive months, decreased $8.9 billion or 1.2 percent to $748.7 billion. This was the longest streak of consecutive monthly
decreases since November 2001-July 2002. This followed a 1.7 percent March decrease. The unfilled orders-to-shipments ratio was 6.01, up from 5.98 in
March.
Inventories
Inventories, down eight consecutive months, decreased $5.1 billion or 1.0 percent to $517.6 billion. This was the longest streak of consecutive monthly decreases since March 2003-January 2004 and followed a 1.2 percent March decrease. The inventories-to-shipments ratio was 1.45, down from 1.46 in March.
Click here to learn more.
<< Back to news articles