Factory Orders Rebounded In August

The manufacturing sector saw a rebound in demand in August, with orders from U.S. factories broadly rising after two months of declines.

Factory orders rose to $612 billion in August, a 1.4 percent increase, the Census Bureau said Tuesday. The release of the figures from August were scheduled for October but were delayed by the government shutdown.

This was in line with expectations.

Excluding transportation, orders rose 0.1 percent. Excluding defense, orders were up 0.9 percent. Durable goods orders rose 2.9 percent.

Year-t0-date, factory orders are up a solid 3.3 percent compared with the January through August period a year earlier. Durable goods orders are up seven percent.

Orders rose sharply for construction equipment as well as equipment used in mining and drilling. Motor vehicles and parts orders were flat for the month and are up just 0.8 percent year-to-date. Defense aircraft and parts orders surged 48.4 percent and are up eight percent year-to-date.

The data is seasonally adjusted but not adjusted for inflation. Compared with a year earlier, prices of consumer durable goods are up 2.6 percent.

Factory shipments ticked down one-tenth of a percentage point to $607.7 billion. Unfilled orders rose 0.6 percent to $1.479 trillion. Inventories were close to unchanged at $948.4 billion.

The Department of Commerce has not said when it will release the data for September, which was due to be published in early November.