U.S. Factory Orders Drop 0.7% In November, Slightly More Than Expected

(RTTNews) - With orders for durable and non-durable goods both falling, the Commerce Department released a report on Tuesday showing that new orders for U.S. manufactured goods fell by slightly more than expected in the month of November.

The report said factory orders fell by 0.7 percent in November, matching the decrease seen in October. Economists had expected orders to drop by about 0.6 percent.

The bigger than expected decrease in factory orders was partly due to a pullback in durable goods orders, which fell by 0.9 percent in November after rising by 0.3 percent in the previous month.

The Commerce Department said orders for transportation equipment led the decrease, tumbling by 1.3 percent in November.

The report also showed that non-durable goods orders fell by 0.5 percent in November after plunging by 1.6 percent in October.

Shipments of manufactured goods also dropped by 0.6 percent in November following a 0.9 percent decrease in the previous month.

On the other hand, inventories of manufactured goods inched up by 0.1 percent in November, matching the uptick seen in October.

Even with inventories rising and shipments falling, the inventories-to-shipments ratio came in at 1.32 in November, unchanged from the previous month.