US durable goods Oct orders -6.2%; record stocks

26 November 2008 15:24  [Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (ICIS news)--New orders for manufactured durable goods in the US slumped 6.2% in October, the biggest monthly drop in two years, while inventories hit a record high, the Commerce Department reported on Wednesday.

The October new orders total of $193.0bn (€148.6bn) represented the third consecutive monthly decrease, following revised declines of 0.2% in September and 5.5% in August, it said.

Excluding transportation items, which tend to skew the data because of their individual size, new orders decreased 4.4%.

Durable goods are manufactured products meant to last three years or more and include such items as automobiles, appliances, transportation and manufacturing equipment.

Many durable goods, such as computers and automobiles, are major downstream markets for chemicals and chemicals-based products used in manufacturing processes or as end-product components.

October shipments of manufactured durable goods also fell for the third consecutive month, dropping 2.4% on top of a 0.2% fall in September.

Unfilled orders for manufactured durable goods fell in October for the first time in more than two years, dropping 0.6%. Unfilled orders had risen 0.2% in September.

Inventories of manufactured durable goods rose 0.4% in October, and have now risen in 15 of the last 16 months, the department said.

The October total of $341.1bn was at the highest level since the current data series commenced in 1992.

US durable goods orders and inventories*

	Oct           (bn $)	Oct vs Sep          (%)	Sep vs Aug (r)              (%)
New orders	193.0	-6.2	-0.2
Unfilled orders	823.6	-0.6	0.2
Total inventories	341.1	0.4	0.2

r: revised  *seasonally adjusted

($1 = €0.77)

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