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Economy in Brief
U.S. Housing Affordability Fell Back in February, but Still in Recent Range
The NAR U.S. Fixed Rate Mortgage Housing Affordability Index decreased 7.6% (-1.4% y/y) in February to 173.1...
European New Car Registrations Remarkably Strong Yet Forgettable
Car registrations are not going to be the only statistic that bears these dual and seemingly dueling characteristics...
U.S. Retail Sales Soar in March
Total retail sales including food service and drinking establishments increased 9.8% (27.7% y/y) during March...
U.S. Industrial Production Rebounded in March
Industrial production rebounded in March, rising 1.4% m/m (+1.0% y/y)...
U.S. Home Builder Index Edges Higher in April
The NAHB-Wells Fargo Composite Housing Market Index rose 1.2% to 83 during April...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
by Tom Moeller May 4, 2015
New orders in the manufacturing sector jumped an expected 2.1% (-4.0% y/y) during March following a 0.1% downtick in February, revised from 0.2%. The gain was driven by jumps in civilian & military aircraft orders.
Durable goods orders surged 4.4% (1.2% y/y), revised from 4.0% as orders for defense aircraft doubled (16.9% y/y) and orders for commercial aircraft rose 30.6% (-3.1% y/y). Factory sector orders overall excluding the transportation sector increased 2.1% (-4.0% y/y). Computers & electronics orders jumped 7.2% (4.8% y/y) but machinery orders declined 1.4% (-11.5% y/y). Nondurable goods orders, which equal shipments, slipped 0.3% (-8.8% y/y), pulled down by a 1.9% drop (-30.0% y/y) in petroleum shipments with lower prices. Basic chemicals shipments declined 0.3% (-3.2% y/y) and food product shipments were off 0.3% (-0.4% y/y), down for the third month in the last four. Countering these declines was a 0.9% rise (13.9% y/y) in apparel shipments.
Shipments overall gained 0.5% (-2.8% y/y) as durable goods shipments rose 1.2% (3.8% y/y). Computer & electronics shipments improved 1.7% (0.9% y/y) and automobile shipments increased 14.1% (16.7% y/y). Machinery shipments declined 1.7% (-4.3% y/y).
Unfilled orders gained 0.1% (8.1% y/y) due to a 0.9% increase (7.5% y/y) in computers and a 0.5% rise (10.7% y/y) in electrical equipment & appliances. Transportation backlogs rose 0.3% 10.5% y/y) and furniture backlogs gained 0.3% (12.9% y/y)
Manufacturers inventories fell 0.2% (+0.9% y/y). Computers inventories rose 0.8% (4.7% y/y) and machinery inventories gained 0.3% (2.8% y/y). Primary metals products inventories declined 2.1% (+4.9% y/y).
The factory sector figures are available in Haver's USECON database. The expectations figure from the Action Economics Forecast Survey is available in AS1REPNA.
Factory Sector- NAICS Classification (%) | Mar | Feb | Jan | Y/Y | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
New Orders | 2.1 | -0.1 | -0.7 | -4.0 | 2.8 | 2.7 | 2.9 |
Shipments | 0.5 | 0.4 | -2.3 | -2.8 | 2.3 | 2.0 | 4.0 |
Inventories | -0.2 | 0.0 | -0.4 | 0.9 | 2.5 | 2.3 | 2.4 |
Unfilled Orders | 0.1 | -0.5 | -0.3 | 8.1 | 9.9 | 7.0 | 3.7 |