(RTTNews) – After reporting a sharp increase in new orders for U.S. manufactured goods in the previous month, the Commerce Department released a report on Thursday showing a pullback by factory orders in the month of December.
The Commerce Department said factory orders fell by 0.4 percent in December after surging by an upwardly revised 1.8 percent in November.
Economists had expected factory orders to dip by 0.2 percent compared to the 1.6 percent jump originally reported for the previous month.
The pullback in factory orders came as durable goods orders slid by 0.7 percent in December after spiking by 3.2 percent in November.
Orders for non-durable goods also edged down by 0.2 percent in December following a 0.5 percent increase in the previous month.
Meanwhile, the report showed shipments of manufactured goods rose by 0.4 percent in December after climbing by 0.7 percent in November.
Inventories of manufactured goods also increased by 0.3 percent in December following a 0.8 percent advance in November.
With inventories and shipments both rising, the inventories-to-shipments ratio was unchanged from the previous month at 1.46.
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