Global| Aug 04 2020U.S. Factory Orders & Shipments Post Strong Gains in June
by:Tom Moeller
|in:Economy in Brief
Summary
• Factory orders increase again, notably for motor vehicles. • Shipments gain is broad-based. • Inventories build up. New orders for manufactured goods increased 6.2% in June (-10.6% y/y) after May's 7.7% gain, revised from 8.0%. A [...]
• Factory orders increase again, notably for motor vehicles.
• Shipments gain is broad-based.
• Inventories build up.
New orders for manufactured goods increased 6.2% in June (-10.6% y/y) after May's 7.7% gain, revised from 8.0%. A 5.0% rise had been expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. Orders for durable goods increased 7.6% (-12.5% y/y), revised from 7.3% in the advance report issued last month. Transportation equipment orders rose 20.2% (-29.1% y/y). Motor vehicle orders improved 27.8% (-4.6% y/y) and defense aircraft bookings strengthened. Orders for metals rose strongly while machinery orders gained 3.0% (-7.8% y/y). Electrical equipment & appliance orders rose 1.9% (-7.9% y/y).
Nondurable goods orders, which equal shipments, rose 5.0% in June (-8.8% y/y). Shipments from petroleum refineries strengthened 30.2% (-37.0% y/y) as prices rose. Food product shipments gained 0.4% (0.8% y/y). Textile product shipments rose 6.7% (-10.0% y/y) but apparel shipments held steady. Shipments of durable goods strengthened 15.1% (-9.4% y/y) as transportation shipments surged by roughly one-half (-19.2% y/y) due to broad-based increases. Electrical equipment shipments rose 2.1% (-7.0% y/y) while shipments of furniture improved 8.5% (-1.9% y/y).
Order backlogs declined 1.4% (-4.8% y/y), off for the third month in the last four. Transportation backlogs fell 2.1% (-6.7% y/y). Excluding the transportation sector, unfilled orders improved 0.1% (-0.3% y/y). Order backlogs of electrical equipment & appliances rose 0.1% (4.9% y/y). Unfilled orders for computers & electronic products rose 0.2% (1.1 y/y). Machinery order backlogs held steady (-1.1% y/y for a second month.
Inventories of manufactured products rose 0.6% in June (-0.4% y/y). The increase followed declines in four of the prior five months. Transportation sector inventories rose 1.5% (11.5% y/y), while outside transportation, inventories gained 0.3% (-3.1% y/y). Furniture inventories held steady (-2.6% y/y) and electrical equipment & appliance inventories eased 0.3% both m/m and y/y. Computer & electronic product inventories eased 0.1% (+0.7% y/y) while machinery inventories declined 0.5% (-2.1% y/y), off for the fifth month this year. Inventories of nondurable products rose 1.5% (-4.4% y/y) as petroleum refinery inventories rose 14.3% (-22.5% y/y). Apparel inventories gained 0.3% (-2.9% y/y) but food product inventories held steady (-1.5% y/y).
The factory sector figures are available in Haver's USECON database. The expectation figure is in the AS1REPNA database.
| Factory Sector (% chg) - NAICS Classification | Jun | May | Apr | Jun Y/Y | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Orders | 6.2 | 7.7 | -13.5 | -10.6 | -0.2 | 6.9 | 5.6 |
| Shipments | 9.8 | 3.0 | -14.0 | -9.1 | 0.9 | 6.7 | 4.4 |
| Unfilled Orders | -1.4 | 0.0 | -1.5 | -4.8 | -1.9 | 3.8 | 2.7 |
| Inventories | 0.6 | 0.2 | -0.5 | -0.4 | 2.8 | 3.7 | 4.3 |
Tom Moeller
AuthorMore in Author Profile »Prior to joining Haver Analytics in 2000, Mr. Moeller worked as the Economist at Chancellor Capital Management from 1985 to 1999. There, he developed comprehensive economic forecasts and interpreted economic data for equity and fixed income portfolio managers. Also at Chancellor, Mr. Moeller worked as an equity analyst and was responsible for researching and rating companies in the economically sensitive automobile and housing industries for investment in Chancellor’s equity portfolio. Prior to joining Chancellor, Mr. Moeller was an Economist at Citibank from 1979 to 1984. He also analyzed pricing behavior in the metals industry for the Council on Wage and Price Stability in Washington, D.C. In 1999, Mr. Moeller received the award for most accurate forecast from the Forecasters' Club of New York. From 1990 to 1992 he was President of the New York Association for Business Economists. Mr. Moeller earned an M.B.A. in Finance from Fordham University, where he graduated in 1987. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from George Washington University.
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