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Economy in Brief
German PPI Accelerates
The German year-on-year PPI has generally been decelerating since early 2017...
U.S. Leading Economic Indicators Signal Continued Expansion
The Conference Board's Composite Index of Leading Economic Indicators increased 0.3% during March...
Philadelphia Fed Factory Conditions Improve; Prices Jump
The Philadelphia Fed reported that its General Factory Sector Business Conditions Index rose to 23.2 during April...
U.S. Initial Claims for Unemployment Insurance Are Little Changed
Initial unemployment insurance claims slipped to 232,000 (-6.1% y/y) during the week ended April 14...
U.K. Retail Sales Fall
U.K. GDP is expected to cool its jets when the first quarter GDP number is released...
by Tom Moeller August 31, 2012
New orders in the manufacturing sector surged 2.8% during July following an unrevised 0.5% June fall. Expectations were for a 2.0% increase. Durable goods orders surged 4.1%, little revised from last week's advance report of a 4.2% rise. A 14.4% rise (16.5% y/y) in transportation sector bookings drove the increase. Less transportation, total factory orders rose 0.7% (-0.6% y/y). Nondurable goods orders (which equal shipments) rose 1.5% (-0.6% y/y). That was led by a 2.7% gain (-2.5% y/y) in petroleum shipments with higher prices. Shipments of textile products rose 0.7% (4.7% y/y), basic chemicals shipments recovered 1.7% (-3.3% y/y) and shipments of paper products increased 0.7% (-1.6% y/y).
Inventories in the factory sector rose 0.5% during July, the first rise after three months of decline. Nevertheless, the 3.1% y/y rate of inventory accumulation was down from its 13.6% rate one year ago. Lower rates of accumulation occurred across industries. Unfilled orders rose 0.8% (8.0% y/y) but growth has weakened considerably this year.
The factory sector figures are available in Haver's USECON database. The expectation figure is in AS1REPNA.
Factory Sector- NAICS Classification | Jul | Jun | May | Y/Y | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
New Orders | 2.8 | -0.5 | 0.5 | 1.9 | 11.8 | 18.0 | -23.1 |
Shipments | 2.0 | -1.2 | 0.3 | 2.4 | 11.8 | 11.2 | -18.8 |
Inventories | 0.5 | -0.1 | -0.1 | 3.1 | 9.4 | 8.8 | -6.8 |
Unfilled Orders | 0.8 | 0.4 | -0.0 | 8.0 | 10.3 | 9.6 | -19.5 |