Updated: 10-Apr-26 10:31 ET
Highlights
- Factory orders were flat month-over-month in February (Briefing.com consensus: 0.5%) following a downwardly revised unchanged reading (from 0.1%) in January.
- Excluding transportation, factory orders increased 1.2% after increasing 0.5% in January.
- Shipments of manufactured goods surged 1.4% after increasing 0.7% in January.
- Durable goods orders were down 1.3% after sliding 0.4% in January, weighed down by a 5.3% decline in transportation equipment orders.
- New orders for nondurable goods jumped 1.5% after increasing 0.5% in January.
- New orders for nondefense capital goods excluding aircraft—a proxy for business spending—were up 0.7% following a 0.3% decline in January.
- The inventory-to-shipments ratio fell to 1.53 from 1.55 in January.
- The key takeaway from the report is that factory orders weren't as flat as the headline suggests. On the contrary, they were quite strong when the volatile transportation component was excluded.
| Category | Feb | Jan | Dec | Nov | OCT |
| Factory Orders | 0.0% | 0.0% | -0.4% | 2.7% | -1.2% |
| Less Defense | 0.1% | 0.4% | -0.9% | 3.2% | -0.8% |
| Durable Goods | -1.3% | -0.4% | -0.9% | 5.4% | -2.1% |
| Nondurable Goods | 1.5% | 0.3% | 0.1% | -0.1% | -0.3% |
| Unfilled Factory Orders | 0.1% | 0.6% | 0.9% | 1.4% | 0.2% |
| Factory Shipments | 1.4% | 0.7% | 0.7% | -0.2% | 0.1% |
| Factory Inventories | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.2% | 0.0% |
| Inventory/Shipment Ratio | 1.53 | 1.55 | 1.56 | 1.57 | 1.56 |
