Economy

September Durable Goods Up, Momentum Slows
Written by David Schollaert
October 28, 2022
New orders for US-manufactured durable goods rose in September to a seasonally adjusted $274.7 billion — having risen now for six out of the last seven months. Orders picked up less than expected but still reversed the weaker showings of previous months.
Last month’s bookings for durable goods were up roughly 0.04% or $1 billion more month-on-month (MoM), following a 0.2% gain a month earlier, according to the US Census Bureau. Figures are not adjusted for inflation.
Orders for big-ticket, US-made goods rose last month, helped by aircraft and autos. But excluding transportation, new orders decreased by 0.5%, as companies pulled back on orders for big-ticket items in September.
Transportation equipment, up five of the last six months, drove the increase by $1.9 billion, or 2.1%, to $95.4 billion, the government data showed.
Shipments of manufactured durable goods, up 16 of the last 17 months, rose 0.3% to $274.2 billion. That’s after a 1.3% increase in August. Transportation equipment, up 11 of the last 12 months, drove the increase, rising 1.1% to $90.5 billion.
Click here for more detail on the September advance report from the US Census Bureau on durable goods manufacturers’ shipments, inventories, and orders. See also Figure 1 below.
Revised and Recently Benchmarked August Data
Revised seasonally adjusted August figures for all manufacturing industries were: New orders, $549.2 billion (revised from $548.4 billion); shipments, $549.0 billion (revised from $547.9 billion); unfilled orders, $1,131.9 billion (revised from $1,132.1 billion); and total inventories, $800.3 billion (revised from $800.2 billion).
By David Schollaert, David@SteelMarketUpdate.com

David Schollaert
Read more from David SchollaertLatest in Economy

Steel, manufacturing, and union groups divided on S232 tariffs
Domestic steel trade associations, manufacturing groups, and the United Steelworkers (USW) union had mixed reactions to the implementation of new Section 232 tariffs without exclusions on Wednesday. Trade groups representing steel mills broadly supported President Trump’s actions, while the USW and some groups representing manufacturers were more critical. AISI Kevin Dempsey, president and CEO of […]

CRU: Will US tariff policy be transactional or transformational?
The Trump 1.0 tariffs appeared to have little positive effect on the US manufacturing, partly because they hurt export competitiveness.

Beige Book finds mixed demand trends, tariff concerns
Manufacturing activity exhibited slight to modest increases across a majority of districts. However, manufacturers expressed concerns over the potential impact of looming trade policy changes between late January and February.

Construction spending drops marginally in January
Construction spending edged down slightly in January, slipping for the first time in four months. The US Census Bureau estimated spending at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $2,196 billion in January, down 0.2% from December’s downward revised rate. The January figure is 3.3% higher than a year ago. January’s result, despite the slight erosion, […]

ISM: Manufacturing expansion slowed in February
The Manufacturing PMI registered 50.3% in February. That’s 0.6 percentage points lower compared to the 50.9% recorded in January.