New orders for manufactured durable goods decreased $3.6 billion or 1.5 percent to $232.6 billion in March, the U.S. Census Bureau reported today. This decrease followed a 0.3 percent February increase.

Key Details

• Transportation equipment, down for the first time in three months, decreased $2.2 billion or 3.1 percent to $68.4 billion.
• Excluding transportation, new orders decreased 0.6 percent.
• Excluding defense, new orders decreased 2.3 percent.

Shipments

Shipments of manufactured durable goods in March increased $1.6 billion or 0.7 percent to $234.8 billion, following a 1.3 percent February decrease.

Unfilled Orders

Unfilled orders for manufactured durable goods in March decreased $12.1 billion or 1.1 percent to $1,063.4 billion, following a 0.6 percent February decrease.

Inventories

Inventories of manufactured durable goods in March increased $0.5 billion or 0.1 percent to $399.4 billion, following a 0.2 percent February increase.

New orders for manufactured durable goods decreased 6.2% in October to $194.4 billion, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. This followed a 2.0% September increase. Excluding transportation, new orders decreased 3.2%.

The October decline was the largest since January. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had expected orders to fall 2.5% overall and 0.5% excluding transportation.

Transportation equipment orders fell 16.7%. Orders for motor vehicles and parts decreased 6.8%. Excluding defense, new orders decreased 6.5%.

Nondefense capital goods orders decreased 15.8%. This suggests business investment is slowing sharply. Many economists believe that business spending is critical to a recovery.

Shipments of manufactured durable goods in October decreased $2.9 billion or 1.4% to $206.7 billion. This followed a 0.7% September decrease.

Unfilled orders for manufactured durable goods in October decreased $12.9 billion or 1.4% to $902.2 billion. The ratio of unfilled orders to shipments decreased to 4.46 from 4.49 in September.

Inventories of manufactured durable goods in October increased $1.1 billion or 0.3% to $387.2 billion. This followed a 0.3% September increase.