WASHINGTON – The value of new factory orders rose by 0.2% in March, slower than the 0.4% gain expected because nondurable goods orders fell 0.5% to offset an upward revised 0.9% gain in durable goods orders, data released by the Commerce Department Thursday morning showed.
Petroleum and coal products shipments fell by 2.7% in March, leading the decrease in nondurables orders. Nondurables shipments are equivalent to orders in this report.
Total factory orders excluding transportation fell 0.3% in March, while durable goods orders excluding transportation were flat, revised up from the 0.2% decline in the advance estimate.
Transportation orders rose 2.6% in March based on Thursday's data, revised up from the 2.4% gain in the advance estimate. Nondefense aircraft orders rose by 7.0% in March and defense aircraft orders were up 31.0%. Motor vehicles orders fell 1.7% in March, but orders for ships and boats rose by 15.7%.
Nondefense capital goods new orders rose 1.6%, but were up only 0.5% when an 8.7% gain in the civilian aircraft category is excluded.
Overall factory shipments fell 0.1% in the month due to the nondurables decline that offset a 0.3% gain for durables shipments. Nondefense capital goods shipments rose 1.3% and were up 0.5% excluding the civilian aircraft component.
Factory inventories were flat in the month, compared with the decline in shipments, so the inventory-to-shipments ratio rose to 1.32 from 1.31 in February.
The Commerce Department's advance report on inventories indicated a 0.1% decline for wholesale inventories and a 0.4% gain for retail inventories in March. While these data are eligible for revision, the levels as they stand now, combined with Thursday's factory inventory data, would result in a 0.1% increase in March business inventories when that report is released on May 12, an MNI calculation showed. The revised wholesale data for March will be released on May 9 and could alter this projection.
