New factory orders for manufactured goods dropped 0.9% in March, the Commerce Department said Friday.
The factory order decrease, to $345.3 billion, was larger than the 0.6% decrease projected by Thomson Reuters and came after a revised 0.7% increase to $348.5 billion in February, originally reported as a 1.8% rise to $352.2 billion.
Excluding transportation, the level of all new manufacturing orders slid 0.9% to $307.4 billion in March following a 0.5% jump in February to $310.1 billion, originally reported as a 1.6% gain to $313.7 billion. Excluding military orders, new orders fell 0.9% to $333.3 billion following a 0.1% decrease to $336.3 billion last month.
New orders for durable goods slipped 0.8% to $160.5 billion in March, while orders for non-durable goods were off 1.0% to $184.8 billion in the month.
Inventories were down 0.8% to $524.8 billion, while the inventory to shipment ratio rose to 1.46 from 1.45 in February.
