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New orders for manufactured goods retreated in December, even as increases were recorded in shipments, unfilled orders, and inventories for the month.
Source: US Census Bureau
Total new orders for manufactured goods fell by $2.4 billion or 0.4% to $530.7 billion. This compares with the 1.8% growth to $533.1 billion in November and is the first contraction since April 2021.
Shipments for the month jumped by $2.6 billion or 1.0% to $266.4 billion, driven mainly by transportation equipment which grew by $1.0 billion or 1.2%. Declines were seen in manufactured nondurable goods and petroleum and coal products.
Unfilled orders for the month grew by $6.2 billion or 0.5% to $1.267 trillion, unchanged from November. This was also led by transportation equipment, which climbed by $2.7 billion or 0.3% to $835.0 billion.
Inventories increased by $3.5 billion or 0.8% to $473.9 billion, driven by machinery, which grew by $0.9 billion or 1.1% to $78.5 billion. Decreases were recorded in manufactured nondurable goods and petroleum and coal products.
The inventories-to-shipments ratio stood at 1.46, unchanged from the previous month.
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