(Adds details from report)
WASHINGTON, March 6 (Reuters) - New orders for
U.S.-manufactured goods fell in January, pulled down by a plunge
in civilian aircraft bookings, but increases in machinery and a
range of other products suggested that manufacturing could be
regaining its footing.
The report from the Commerce Department on Monday also
showed shipments of manufactured goods rebounding after
two-straight monthly declines, while inventories were unchanged.
It followed in the wake of an Institute for Supply
Management survey last week showing that manufacturing, which
accounts for 11.3% of the economy, contracted for a
fourth-straight month in February, though the pace of decline
slowed and new orders improved from a more than 2-1/2-year low.
Factory orders dropped 1.6% after increasing 1.7% in
December. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast orders
declining 1.8%. Orders rose 4.3% on a year-on-year basis in
January.
With the Federal Reserve expected to keep hiking interest
rates into summer, a swift turnaround in manufacturing is,
however, unlikely. Manufacturing is also being undermined by the
dollar's past appreciation against the currencies of the United
States' main trade partners and softening global demand.
The drop in factory orders in January mostly reflected a
13.3% decline in transportation equipment, which followed a
15.8% jump in December. Transportation equipment orders were
weighed down by a 54.5% tumble in orders for civilian aircraft.
Motor vehicle orders increased 1.3%.
Orders for machinery shot up 1.6%, while bookings for
computers and electronic products rose 0.6%. Orders for
electrical equipment, appliances and components surged 1.3%.
There were also gains in orders for primary metals, fabricated
metal products, as well as defense aircraft.
Shipments of manufactured goods increased 0.7%, the biggest
gain since August, after falling 0.6% in December. The stock of
manufactured goods at factories was unchanged after rising 0.4%
in December. While that bodes well for future production, that
could chip at gross domestic product this quarter.
Unfilled orders at factories were unchanged as a jump in
unfinished work for computers and related products were offset
by decreases in consumer goods.
The Commerce Department also reported that orders for
non-defense capital goods, excluding aircraft, which are seen as
a measure of business spending plans on equipment, rebounded
0.8% in January as reported last month.
Shipments of these so-called core capital goods, which are
used to calculate business equipment spending in the gross
domestic product report, increased 1.1% as previously reported.
(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and
Sharon Singleton)
