EmailEconomic
Last Update: 02-May-12 10:47 ET
Factory Orders
Highlights
- Factory orders declined 1.5% in March after increasing a downwardly revised 1.1% (from 1.3%) in February. The Briefing.com consensus expected factory orders to fall 1.8%.
Key Factors
- Durable goods orders fell 4.0% in March, a slight upward revision from the 4.2% decline revealed in the advance report. A large portion of the decline was related to a 47.6% drop in nondefense aircraft orders.
- Excluding transportation, durable goods orders were revised up from -1.1% to -0.8%.
- Led by a 1.2% increase in food product orders, nondurable goods orders increased 0.5% in March, the same rate as February. Petroleum and coal products, which provided the bulk of the February gain, increased a modest 0.3%.
- Orders of nondefense capital goods excluding aircraft were revised up from a 0.8% decline to a 0.1% decline. Business investment orders increased 2.7% in February.
- Shipments, which are factored into GDP, were unrevised at 2.6% growth.
Big Picture
- Unfilled orders growth over the past several months should keep production stable in the face of volatile new orders growth.
| Category | MAR | FEB | JAN | DEC | NOV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Factory Orders | -1.5% | 1.1% | -1.1% | 1.4% | 2.2% |
| Less Defense | -1.6% | 0.9% | -1.3% | 1.6% | 2.3% |
| Durable Goods | -4.0% | 1.9% | -3.5% | 3.3% | 4.2% |
| Nondurable Goods | 0.5% | 0.5% | 1.0% | -0.2% | 0.6% |
| Unfilled Factory Orders | 0.1% | 1.2% | 0.7% | 1.5% | 1.3% |
| Factory Shipments | 0.7% | 0.1% | 0.8% | 0.8% | 0.2% |
| Factory Inventories | 0.3% | 0.3% | 0.6% | 0.2% | 0.4% |
| Inventory/Shipment Ratio | 1.33 | 1.33 | 1.33 | 1.33 | 1.34 |
