On Thursday, the 5th of December 2019, US factory order data had unveiled a shimmering ray of hope for a battered US factory activity, as new orders for US-made factory goods had sharply rebounded in October following two consecutive months of declines, almost entirely buoyed up by a growing demand for machineries alongside transportation equipment, nonetheless, the gains were likely to be shortlived over the narratives of a steep contraction on US business confidence.
In point of fact, latest factory order data from the US Commerce Department came forth a couple of days after the Institute of Supply Chain Management (ISM) data had revealed dark clouds dangling storms over US factory activity which was faltered further into a recession on November, while PMI (Purchasing Managers’ Index) data for US manufacturing sector dropped to 48.1 in November from a reading of 48.3 a month earlier, a much-downbeat outlook that largely coincided with analysts’ remarks that latest gain on US factory activity would unlikely to be of much aid to heave a recessed US manufacturing sector up from a steep contraction.
Nonetheless, according to Thursday’s (December 5th) US Commerce Department data, new orders for US-made factory goods rose by 0.3 per cent on November after falling 0.8 per cent a month earlier, while several analysts were quoted saying followed by the report that recent gains in US factory goods orders would not be sufficient to ramp up a shrinking US manufacturing sector given the extent of drops September and October factory goods orders had witnessed adding that considering a whipsawed US business confidence amid a 16-month-long trade row with Beijing, the recent improvements in orders would unlikely to sustain.
