Orders in the manufacturing sector fell 1.0% (+7.4% y/y) during January and reversed much of a little-revised 1.4% December jump. The decline owed to a 3.7% fall in orders for durable goods. That was little-revised from the advance report of a 4.0% drop indicated last week. The shortfall reflected much-lower orders for aircraft. Orders for nondurable goods offset some of that decline with a 1.3% rise (6.5% y/y). That reflected a 3.3% jump in oil refinery shipments (8.0% y/y), which for nondurables equal orders. Excluding oil shipments rose 0.6% (5.9% y/y).

Unfilled orders rose 0.6% (9.5% y/y) led by a 1.8% rise (14.8% y/y) in nondefense aircraft. Less transportation altogether, backlogs rose 0.2% (9.5% y/y) paced by a 0.6% rise (24.4% y/y) in machinery and a 0.8% gain (17.3% y/y) in electrical equipment. Order backlogs of furniture rose just 1.9% y/y while computers were unchanged. Shipments from the manufacturing sector rose 0.9% (7.6% y/y).

Inventories in the factory sector increased another 0.6% (8.8% y/y) during January as durable goods inventories rose 0.6% (10.4% y/y). Electrical equipment inventories swelled by 2.9% (6.3% y/y) while machinery inventories rose 1.5% (14.1% y/y). Nondurables inventories rose 0.6% (6.4% y/y) reflecting a 2.2% (16.3% y/y) jump in oil. Apparel inventories also were strong and rose 1.6% (18.1% y/y) but basic chemicals ticked up just 0.1% (3.6% y/y).

The factory sector figures are available in Haver's USECON database. The expectation figure is in AS1REPNA.