New orders for U.S. manufactured goods fell 1.4% to $491.7 billion in January from a revised $498.6 billion in the previous month, the U.S. Census Bureau reported.
New orders for manufactured durable goods dropped 3.6% to $240.0 billion in January, with transportation equipment leading the decrease. New orders for manufactured nondurable goods went up 0.8% to $251.7 billion.
Total shipments of manufactured goods grew 0.6% to $498.8 billion; durable goods shipments were up 0.3% to $247.1 billion, with transportation equipment leading the increase. Nondurable goods shipments, led by petroleum and coal products, rose 0.8% to $251.7 billion.
Unfilled orders for manufactured durable goods slipped 0.3% to $1.141 trillion, driven by transportation equipment, which fell 0.5% to $771.9 billion.
Total inventories rose 0.3% to $672.4 billion in January. Inventories of manufactured durable goods, led by transportation equipment, increased 0.3% to $408.8 billion. Inventories of manufactured nondurable goods also went up 0.3% to $263.6 billion, driven by petroleum and coal products.
The inventories-to-shipments ratio in January was 1.35, unchanged from December 2017.
