Updated: 06-Dec-18 10:46 ET
| October Factory Orders |
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| Updated: 06-Dec-18 10:46 ET |
Highlights
- Factory orders declined 2.1% in October (Briefing.com consensus -2.0%) following a downwardly revised 0.2% increase (from 0.7%) in September.
- Excluding transportation, orders were up 0.3%.
Key Factors
- New orders for nondefense capital goods excluding aircraft -- a proxy for business investment -- were flat, unchanged from the Advance Durable Orders report, after declining 0.6% in September.
- Total shipments in October for all manufacturing industries were down 0.1% after increasing 0.7% in September.
- Orders for durable goods decreased 4.3% following a downwardly revised unchanged reading (from +0.7%) in September.
- Nondurable goods orders increased 0.3% on top of a downwardly revised 0.5% increase (from 0.6%) in September.
- The inventory-to-shipments ratio held steady at 1.34.
Big Picture
- The key takeaway from the report is that it shows a surprising lack of business investment in the face of business-friendly fiscal stimulus measures.
| Category | OCT | SEP | AUG | JUL | JUN |
| Factory Orders | -2.1% | 0.2% | 2.6% | -0.5% | 0.6% |
| Less Defense | -0.4% | -0.4% | 1.5% | -0.2% | 0.9% |
| Durable Goods | -4.3% | 0.0% | 4.7% | -1.2% | 0.9% |
| Nondurable Goods | 0.3% | 0.5% | 0.6% | 0.1% | 0.4% |
| Unfilled Factory Orders | -0.1% | 0.7% | 0.9% | 0.1% | 0.4% |
| Factory Shipments | -0.1% | 0.7% | 0.7% | 0.0% | 1.0% |
| Factory Inventories | 0.1% | 0.6% | 0.1% | 0.8% | 0.2% |
| Inventory/Shipment Ratio | 1.34 | 1.34 | 1.34 | 1.35 | 1.34 |
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