Amigo11
/ 2010-03-04 16:01
/
SAMA PRAWDA
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US Factory Orders ! !
Jan Dec ! Consensus: +2.0% !
Total Orders: +1.7% +1.5%r
Ex-Transportation: +0.1% +1.5%r ! Actual: +1.7% !
Durable Goods: +2.6% +1.8%r ! !
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By Judith Burns
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--Factory orders rose in January but the increase was weaker than anticipated and was lifted chiefly by demand for commercial aircraft, a new Commerce Department report showed.
U.S. factory orders increased 1.7% in January, the Commerce Department reported. Analysts had expected January factory orders to show a 2.0% increase from December.
While orders for non-defense capital goods jumped 3.1% in the first month of the year, the category posted a 4.1% decline excluding aircraft, a worrisome downturn in a key barometer of business activity.
December figures were upwardly revised, however. The Commerce Department said Thursday that December factory orders rose 1.5%, up from the previously reported 1.0% gain. December factory orders excluding transportation also were revised upward, but December durable goods orders were downwardly revised to show a 1.8% rise, not the 1.9% increase first reported.
January's increase in new orders for manufactured goods rose $6.2 billion, to $378.4 billion, according to the Commerce Department. It said the increase was the highest since September 2009.
Transportation equipment was the largest driver of the increase in January, jumping 15% to $44.6 billion, continuing a streak of increases seen in four of the last five months.
Unfilled orders, which had declined for 15 straight months, were flat in January, the Commerce Department said. The biggest increase came in primary metals, where demand has risen seven of the last eight months.
Inventories, which had fallen 0.2% in December, increased 0.2% in January, and have been up for three of the last four months, according to the Commerce Department. Computers and electronic products posted the largest decrease in the durable-goods category, which covers goods meant to last three years or longer. In the nondurable goods category, inventories rose as well, led by a 2.3% rise in oil and coal products.
The Institute for Supply Management said Monday that its index of manufacturing-sector activity was 56.5 in February, down nearly two points from January, possibly due to shutdowns caused by bad winter weather. A reading above 50 represents expansion; those below it indicate the factory sector is contracting.