Factory orders up in May
July 3, 2012
The Census Bureau estimated that new orders for manufactured goods increased 0.7% in May from April following decreases in March and April. Excluding transportation, new orders increased 0.4%. New orders for manufactured durable goods rose 1.3% — slightly higher than the 1.1% that the Census Bureau had reported in its advance estimates. New orders for manufactured nondurable goods increased 0.2%.
Apparently, the good news for factory orders may be about to end. The Census Bureau figures for May come a day after the Institute for Supply Management reported a sharp decline in its index of new manufacturing orders for June. The ISM new orders index dropped by more than 12 points, although it remains only slightly below the 50% threshold between expansion and contraction.
Factory shipments were up for the fifth month out of the last six months, rising 0.5%, the Census Bureau said. Unfilled orders were down for the second straight month. And inventories of manufactured durable goods were up for the 28th time in the last 29 months, rising 0.5%
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