2019.03.1910:19:00UTC+00U.S. Factory Orders Show Slight Uptick In January

With a drop in orders for non-durable goods partly offsetting an increase in orders for durable goods, the Commerce Department released a report on Tuesday showing new orders for U.S. manufactured goods edged only slightly higher in the month of January.

The Commerce Department said factory orders inched up by 0.1 percent in January, matching the 0.1 percent uptick in December. Economists had expected orders to rise by 0.3 percent.

The modest increase in factory orders came as durable goods orders rose by 0.3 percent in January after jumping by 1.3 percent in December.

Orders for transportation equipment showed a substantial increase, surging up by 1.2 percent in January after soaring by 3.2 percent in the previous month.

On the other hand, the Commerce Department said orders for non-durable goods dipped by 0.2 percent in January after tumbling by 1.1 percent in December.

The report also showed factory orders fell by 0.2 percent when excluding the spike in orders for transportation equipment.

Shipments of manufactured goods also dropped by 0.4 percent in January after slipping by 0.2 percent in the previous month.

Meanwhile, inventories of manufactured goods rose by 0.5 percent in January after inching up by 0.1 percent in December.

The Commerce Department said the inventories-to-shipments ratio subsequently crept up to 1.36 in January from 1.35 in December.