WASHINGTON - New orders for manufacturers rose 0.8% in May, on a seasonally adjusted basis, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday. Excluding transportation, new orders rose 0.2%.
The May orders followed a revised drop of 0.9% in overall orders and a 0.2% increase in ex-transportation orders for April.
The median estimate of economists polled by Thomson Reuters was for a 1.0% increase in total orders.
The non-defense capital goods category, an indication of manufacturing health, was up 5.7% in May. The core non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft category was up 1.6%.
The ups and downs of the Boeing order book produced a 36.5% jump in non-defense aircraft following a revised 29.0% decline in April. Orders for motor vehicles were up 2.0%. Machinery orders were up 0.4% and computers and electronics rose 1.2%. Consumer goods orders fell 2.4% in a sign of household retrenching.
Orders for non-durable goods industries fell 0.2%. Some economists said the non-durables number would be lowered by the falling price of oil.
Shipments were up 0.1%, unfilled orders up 0.9% and inventories up 0.8%.
Total manufacturing orders have risen in two of the last three months and ex-transportation have been up in six of the last seven months.
