US durable goods orders down 1.0% in November

24 December 2008 16:01  [Source: ICIS news]

TORONTO (ICIS news)--New orders for manufactured durable goods in the US fell 1.0% in November while inventories rose 0.5%, the US Commerce Department reported on Wednesday.

The November new orders total of $186.9bn (€132.7bn) was the fourth consecutive monthly decrease and followed a revised 8.4% decline in October, the department said.

Excluding transportation items, which tend to skew the data because of their individual size, new orders increased 1.2% in November.

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.

November shipments of manufactured durable goods fell for the fourth consecutive month, dropping 2.6% to $195.9bn, following a 3.4% decrease in October.

Unfilled orders for manufactured durable goods fell in November for the second consecutive month, dropping 0.6% to $815.6bn, after a 0.9% decline in October.

Inventories of manufactured durable goods have now risen in 16 of the last 17 months, the department said.

The November total of $342.9bn was at the highest level since the current data series commenced in 1992, the department said.

US durable goods orders and inventories*

	Nov           (bn $)	Nov vs Oct          (%)	Oct vs Sept (r)              (%)
New orders	186.9	-1.0	-8.4
Unfilled orders	815.6	-0.6	-0.9
Total inventories	342.9	0.5	0.4

r: revised  *seasonally adjusted

($1 = €0.71)

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