New orders for U.S.-manufactured goods fell for a second straight month in September, and business spending on equipment appears to have pulled back in the third quarter.
Factory orders dropped 0.5% after a downwardly revised 0.8% decrease in August, the Commerce Department’s Census Bureau said on Monday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast factory orders would fall 0.5% after a previously reported 0.2% decline in August.
Factory orders were unchanged from a year earlier.
The government also reported that orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, which are seen as a measure of business spending plans on equipment, increased by 0.7% in September instead of the previously reported 0.5%.
Shipments of these so-called core capital goods fell 0.1% instead of declining 0.3% as reported last month. Nondefense capital goods orders dropped 4.4%, instead of by 4.5% as initially estimated.
Shipments of those goods decreased by 3.4% rather than 3.6%, as initially estimated. These shipments go into the calculation of the business spending on equipment component in the gross domestic product report. That suggests a slowing in business investment in equipment in the third quarter.
(Source: Reuters)
Zabih Ullah is a seasoned finance writer with more than ten years of experience. He is highly skilled at analyzing market trends, decoding economic data, and providing insightful commentary on various financial topics. Driven by his curiosity, Zabih stays updated with the latest developments in the finance industry, ensuring that his readers receive timely and relevant news and analysis. Read Full Bio
