On Tuesday, a report from the Department of Commerce revealed a sharp decline in new orders for U.S. made products in January.
According to the report, orders from factories experienced a significant 3.6 percent drop in January, following a revised decrease of 0.3 percent in December. The downfall was higher than what economists had originally anticipated; a 2.9 percent decrease compared to a 0.2 percent increase reported for the previous month.
The unexpected decrease in factory orders was largely due to a significant drop in durable goods orders -- dropping 6.2 percent in January after a slight 0.3 percent dip in December. Furthermore, the demand for non-durable goods also fell, experiencing a decrease of 1.1 percent in January following a 0.3 percent drop in the preceding month.
The report also noted a 1.0 percent decline in the shipments of manufactured goods in January after a 0.5 percent decrease in December. Meanwhile, the inventory of manufactured goods saw a slight decrease of 0.1 percent in January, in comparison to an unchanged situation in December.
With the shipments experiencing a larger decrease than the inventories, the ratio of inventories-to-shipments increased to 1.50 in January from 1.48 in December.
