New orders for manufactured goods in August, down following four consecutive monthly increases, decreased $2.8 billion or 0.8% to $352.9 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau reported today. This followed a 1.4% July increase. Excluding transportation, new orders increased 0.4%.
Shipments, down following two consecutive monthly increases, decreased $0.9 billion or 0.3% to $360.0 billion. This followed a 0.3% July increase.
Unfilled orders, down eleven consecutive months, decreased $3.1 billion or 0.4% to $736.8 billion. This was the longest streak of consecutive monthly decreases since the series was first published on a NAICS basis in 1992. This followed a 0.1% July decrease. The unfilled orders-to-shipments ratio was 5.98, up from 5.94 in July.
Inventories, down twelve consecutive months, decreased $3.9 billion or 0.8% to $498.2 billion. This was the longest streak of consecutive monthly decreases since February 2001-May 2002 and followed a 0.9% July decrease. The inventories-to-shipments ratio was 1.38, down from 1.39 in July.