April 4th, 5:00 am by Benzinga
Factory Orders for the month of February were released this morning. New orders were up 1.3 percent month-over-month, lower than the 1.5 percent increase anticipated by analysts; however, higher than the revised January decrease of 1.1 percent.
From the release by the US Census Bureau, “New orders for manufactured goods in February, up three of the last four months, increased $6.0 billion or 1.3 percent to $468.4 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau reported today. This followed a 1.1 percent January decrease. Excluding transportation, new orders increased 0.9 percent.”
“Shipments, up nine consecutive months, increased $0.3 billion or 0.1 percent to $462.6 billion. This followed a 0.6 percent January increase.”
“Unfilled orders, up twenty-two of the last twenty-three months, increased $12.1 billion or 1.3 percent to $931.1 billion. This followed a 0.7 percent January increase. The unfilled orders-to-shipments ratio was 6.23, up from 6.12 in January.”
“Inventories, up twenty-eight of the last twenty-nine months, increased $2.2 billion or 0.4 percent to $616.8 billion. This was at the highest level since the series was first published on a NAICS basis in 1992 and followed a 0.6 percent January increase. The inventories-to shipments ratio was 1.33, unchanged from January.”
