New factory orders for manufactured goods slumped 4.0% in August, the Commerce Department said yesterday.
The factory order decrease, to $444.365 billion, was larger than the 2.5% decrease projected by Thomson Reuters and came after a revised 0.7% increase to $462.993 billion in July, originally reported as a 1.3% rise to $465.426 billion.
Excluding transportation, the level of all new manufacturing orders fell 3.3% to about $392.3 billion in August, following a 0.5% rise in July to $405.7 billion, originally reported as a 1.0% jump to $407.9 billion. The increase compared to a 2.4% decrease projected by Thomson.
Excluding military orders, new orders slid 4.2% to $431.9 billion, following a 1.2% increase to $450.9 billion in July.
New orders for durable goods were off 4.8% to $207.6 billion in August, while orders for non-durable goods dropped 3.3% to $236.8 billion in the month.
Inventories were up 0.6% to $562.5 billion, while the inventory-to-shipment ratio grew to 1.26 from 1.21 in July.
