U.S. Factory Orders Fall 0.7% In January, More Than Expected

(RTTNews) - New orders for U.S. manufactured goods fell by more than expected in the month of January, according to a report released by the Commerce Department on Thursday.

The report said factory orders dropped by 0.7 percent in January after tumbling by a revised 2.0 percent in December. Economists had expected orders to decrease by 0.5 percent compared to the 1.5 percent drop originally reported for the previous month.

The drop in factory orders largely reflected another notable decrease in orders for transportation equipment, which fell by 5.7 percent in January after plunging by 12.1 percent in December.

Excluding the decrease in orders for transportation equipment, factory orders edged up by 0.2 percent in January compared to a 0.1 percent drop in December.

The modest increase in ex-transportation orders in January reflected a 7.4 percent jump in orders for fabricated metal products as well as a notable increase in orders for electronic products.

The report showed that durable goods orders fell by 1.0 percent in January, unchanged from the previously reported decrease. Orders for non-durable goods dipped 0.4 percent.

The Commerce Department also said shipments of manufactured goods fell by 0.3 percent in January, matching the decrease seen in the previous month.

Meanwhile, inventories of manufactured goods edged up by 0.2 percent in January following a 0.5 percent increase in December.

With inventories rising and shipments falling, the inventories-to-shipments ratio ticked up to 1.30 in January from 1.29 in December.