Durable goods orders rise 1.8% in September as transportation equipment leads
New orders reached $345.4 billion, the Census Bureau said October 27. Shipments rose 0.9% and inventories climbed for a twelfth straight month.
U.S. factories booked more orders for long-lasting goods in September, and shipped more too.
New orders for manufactured durable goods rose $6.3 billion, or 1.8%, to $345.4 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau said in its advance report on October 27. Orders have now risen in six of the last seven months. August was revised to a 0.1% gain.
The September numbers
| Measure | Level | Change | |---|---|---| | New orders | $345.4 billion | +1.8% | | New orders, excluding transportation | — | +0.5% | | New orders, excluding defense | — | +2.2% | | Shipments | $336.8 billion | +0.9% | | Unfilled orders | $1,623.6 billion | +0.8% | | Inventories | $610.0 billion | +0.3% |
All figures are seasonally adjusted and not adjusted for inflation.
Transportation equipment did the heavy lifting
Transportation equipment led every line of the report:
- New orders: up $5.2 billion, or 4.6%, to $119.8 billion
- Shipments: up $1.6 billion, or 1.4%, to $111.1 billion, up in nine of the last ten months
- Unfilled orders: up $8.7 billion, or 0.9%, to $1,019.0 billion
- Inventories: up $0.6 billion, or 0.3%, to $193.2 billion
Outside transportation, orders grew a more modest 0.5%.
Capital goods
Nondefense capital goods orders jumped $6.3 billion, or 6.2%, to $107.8 billion. Shipments in that group rose 1.7% to $97.1 billion.
Defense capital goods orders fell 1.8% to $20.8 billion.
Why freight watches this
Durable goods shipments are physical freight: machinery, equipment, metal products and vehicles that move by truck, rail and intermodal. Shipments up in nine of the last ten months, and a backlog of unfilled orders that has grown in 26 of the last 27 months, point to steady factory output feeding into freight in the months ahead.
Inventories have now risen for twelve consecutive months.
What's next
The Census Bureau will publish revised and more detailed figures, including nondurable goods, on November 3 at 10 a.m. ET. The advance report for October is due November 25 at 8:30 a.m. ET.