After reporting a sharp increase in new orders for U.S. manufactured goods, the Commerce Department released a report on Tuesday showing a significant pullback in factory orders in the month of July.
The Commerce Department said factory orders tumbled by 2.1 percent in July after surging by 2.3 percent in June. Economists had expected factory orders to plunge by 2.6 percent.
The sharp pullback in factory orders came as durable goods orders plummeted by 5.2 percent in July after soaring by 4.3 percent in June. Orders for transportation equipment led the way lower, diving by 14.3 percent.
Meanwhile, the report said orders for non-durable goods jumped by 1.1 percent in July after climbing by 0.4 percent in the previous month.
The Commerce Department also said shipments of manufactured goods rose by 0.5 percent in July after inching up by 0.2 percent in June.
Inventories of manufactured goods also crept up 0.1 percent in July following two consecutive monthly decreases.
With inventories and shipments both increasing, the inventories-to-shipments ratio was unchanged from the previous month at 1.48.
