Global| Jun 06 2016U.S. Factory Orders Solid in April
by:Sandy Batten
|in:Economy in Brief
Summary
New factory orders rose 1.9%m/m in April following an upwardly revised 1.7% m/m increase in March. The Action Economics Forecast Survey had anticipated a 2.0% m/m rise for April. Durable goods orders for April (the advance report was [...]
New factory orders rose 1.9%m/m in April following an upwardly revised 1.7% m/m increase in March. The Action Economics Forecast Survey had anticipated a 2.0% m/m rise for April. Durable goods orders for April (the advance report was released on May 26) were unrevised in today's report, rising 3.4% m/m on top of an upwardly revised 2.0% m/m increase in March. As in the advance report, durable goods orders in April were propelled by an 8.7% m/m surge in orders for transportation equipment, mostly nondefense aircraft (+65.3% m/m).
Besides revisions to the durable goods figures, the new information in this report was on nondurable goods. Those orders increased 0.4% m/m in April following a 1.4% m/m jump in March, their second consecutive monthly increase after eight consecutive monthly decreases.
Shipments of manufactured goods rose 0.5% m/m in April, their second consecutive monthly increase following declines in seven of the previous eight months. The rise in April was spread relatively evenly across durable and nondurable goods. Durable good shipments increased 0.5% m/m while nondurable shipments increased 0.4% m/m.
Unfilled orders jumped 0.6% m/m in April, their largest monthly increase since July 2014. Except for Machinery, all major categories experienced an increase in unfilled orders in April with Primary Metals leading the way with a 1.2% m/m rise.
Factory inventories continued to slide, posting their tenth consecutive monthly decline in April, falling 0.1% m/m. Inventories of durable goods, down 0.1% m/m, accounted for the April decline, while inventories of nondurables goods were essentially unchanged.
The factory sector figures are available in Haver's USECON database. The expectations figure from the Action Economics Forecast Survey is available in AS1REPNA.
| Factory Sector- NAICS Classification (%) | Apr | Mar | Feb | Y/Y | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Orders | 1.9 | 1.7 | -1.9 | -2.7 | -6.4 | 1.8 | 2.0 |
| Shipments | 0.5 | 0.3 | -0.6 | -4.7 | -4.4 | 1.2 | 2.0 |
| Unfilled Orders | -0.6 | 0.0 | -0.5 | -1.6 | -2.4 | 8.8 | 5.8 |
| Inventories | -0.1 | -0.1 | -0.4 | -3.0 | -2.5 | 1.8 | 0.9 |
Sandy Batten
AuthorMore in Author Profile »Sandy Batten has more than 30 years of experience analyzing industrial economies and financial markets and a wide range of experience across the financial services sector, government, and academia. Before joining Haver Analytics, Sandy was a Vice President and Senior Economist at Citibank; Senior Credit Market Analyst at CDC Investment Management, Managing Director at Bear Stearns, and Executive Director at JPMorgan. In 2008, Sandy was named the most accurate US forecaster by the National Association for Business Economics. He is a member of the New York Forecasters Club, NABE, and the American Economic Association. Prior to his time in the financial services sector, Sandy was a Research Officer at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Senior Staff Economist on the President’s Council of Economic Advisors, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy at the US Treasury, and Economist at the International Monetary Fund. Sandy has taught economics at St. Louis University, Denison University, and Muskingun College. He has published numerous peer-reviewed articles in a wide range of academic publications. He has a B.A. in economics from the University of Richmond and a M.A. and Ph.D. in economics from The Ohio State University.
