New factory orders for manufactured goods surged 2.3% in December, the Commerce Department said yesterday.
The factory order increase, a $10.077 billion rise to $441.566 billion, matched the 2.3% increase projected by IFR Markets and came after a revised 1.7% increase to $431.489 billion in October, originally reported as a 1.5% increase to $430.3 billion.
Excluding transportation, the level of all new manufacturing orders rose 0.7% to about $370.1 billion in December, following a 1.5% rise in November to $367.3 billion. The increase compared to a 1.9% increase projected by IFR Markets.
Excluding defense, new orders rose 1.2% to $428.5 billion, following a 2.4% increase to $423.7 billion in November. Nondefense capital goods orders rose 5.5% to $81.2 billion. New orders excluding defense and aircraft grew 4.5% to $64.4 billion.
Defense orders surged 81.6% to $11.5 billion after a 25.2% drop in November.
New orders for durable goods rose 5.0% to $226.1 billion in December, while orders for non-durable goods fell 0.4% to $215.5 billion in the month.
Inventories increased 0.8% to $528.1 billion, while the inventory to shipment ratio grew to 1.24 in December from 1.22 in November.
