WASHINGTON — The value of new factory orders rose by 1.3% in November, slightly larger than the expected 1.1% increase in an MNI survey, data released by the Commerce Department Friday morning showed.
Nondurable goods orders rose 1.4%, while durable goods orders were unrevised at a 1.3% increase seen in the advance estimate.
Petroleum and coal products shipments were up 6.0% in November, leading the increase in nondurables orders. Chemicals also contributed to the increase, seeing a rise of 1.6%. Nondurables shipments are equivalent to orders in this report.
Total factory orders excluding transportation rose 0.8% in November, while durable goods orders excluding transportation were down 0.1%, unrevised from the advance estimate.
Transportation orders for November increased 4.1% based on Friday's data, a small revision from the 4.2% increase in the advance estimate. Nondefense aircraft and parts orders rose by 14.7% in November and defense aircraft and parts orders were up 12.4%. Motor vehicles orders increased 1.1% in November, while orders for ships and boats fell by 1.7%.
Nondefense capital goods new orders posted a 2.4% increase, but were down 0.2% when a 30.9% increase in the civilian aircraft capital goods category is excluded.
Overall factory shipments rose 1.2% in the month due to a 0.9% rise in durable goods shipments and a 1.4% increase in nondurables shipments. Shipments for nondefense capital goods increased by 1.8% and were down 0.1% excluding aircraft component.
Factory inventories increased 0.4% in the month, compared with the 1.2% increase in shipments, making the inventory-to-shipments ratio continue the downward trend to 1.35 from 1.36 in October and 1.37 in September.
The Commerce Department's advance report on inventories showed a 0.7% increase for wholesale inventories and a 0.1% increase for retail inventories. While these data are eligible for revision, the levels as they stand now, combined with Friday's factory inventory data, would result in a 0.4% increase in November business inventories when that report is released on January 12, an MNI calculation showed.
The revised wholesale data for November will be released on January 10 and could alter this projection.
