Updated: 02-Sep-26 10:19 ET
Highlights
- Factory orders increased 0.9% month-over-month in July (Briefing.com consensus: 0.6%) following an upwardly revised 0.2% decline (from -0.3%) in June.
- Excluding transportation, factory orders increased 0.6% on the heels of a 0.1% decline in June.
- Shipments of manufactured goods increased 0.8% after being flat in June.
- Durable goods orders jumped 1.1% after increasing 0.6% in June.
- New orders for nondurable goods rose 0.7% after sliding 0.9% in June.
- New orders for nondefense capital goods excluding aircraft—a proxy for business spending—were flat following a 1.7% increase in June and a 1.9% increase in May.
- The inventory-to-shipments ratio held steady at 1.47 for the third straight month.
- The key takeaway from the report is that factory orders were running at a good clip in July for durable and nondurable goods. Although business spending was flat, that was likely just a normal slowdown from the solid increases registered in May and June.
| Category | JUL | JUN | May | APR | Mar |
| Factory Orders | 0.9% | -0.2% | -1.1% | 5.3% | 1.8% |
| Less Defense | 1.0% | -0.3% | -1.1% | 5.1% | 1.0% |
| Durable Goods | 1.1% | 0.6% | -4.0% | 8.5% | 1.3% |
| Nondurable Goods | 0.7% | -0.9% | 2.2% | 1.9% | 2.3% |
| Unfilled Factory Orders | 0.6% | 0.6% | 0.7% | 1.8% | 0.2% |
| Factory Shipments | 0.8% | 0.0% | 1.6% | 1.3% | 1.5% |
| Factory Inventories | 0.4% | 0.1% | 0.2% | 0.3% | 0.7% |
| Inventory/Shipment Ratio | 1.47 | 1.47 | 1.47 | 1.49 | 1.51 |
