Updated: 02-Jul-26 10:17 ET
Highlights
- Factory orders declined 1.3% month-over-month in May (Briefing.com consensus: 1.5%) following an upwardly revised 5.3% increase (from 4.8%) in April.
- Excluding transportation, factory orders increased 1.9% on the heels of a 1.7% increase in April.
- Shipments of manufactured goods jumped 1.6% after increasing 1.3% in April.
- Durable goods orders slumped 4.5% after increasing 8.5% in April, driven by a 14.0% decline in transportation equipment orders.
- New orders for nondurable goods rose 2.2% after increasing 1.9% in April.
- New orders for nondefense capital goods excluding aircraft—a proxy for business spending—increased 1.4% following a 0.6% drop in April.
- The inventory-to-shipments ratio fell to 1.47 from 1.49 in April.
- The key takeaway from the report is that the headline weakness was a function of a large decline in volatile transportation equipment orders. Exclude that factor, and factory orders were quite solid in May.
| Category | May | APR | Mar | Feb | Jan |
| Factory Orders | -1.3% | 5.3% | 1.8% | 0.3% | 0.0% |
| Less Defense | -1.2% | 5.1% | 1.0% | 0.3% | 0.4% |
| Durable Goods | -4.5% | 8.5% | 1.3% | -1.2% | -0.4% |
| Nondurable Goods | 2.2% | 1.9% | 2.3% | 1.9% | 0.5% |
| Unfilled Factory Orders | 0.6% | 1.8% | 0.2% | 0.1% | 0.6% |
| Factory Shipments | 1.6% | 1.3% | 1.5% | 1.7% | 0.7% |
| Factory Inventories | 0.2% | 0.3% | 0.7% | 0.1% | 0.1% |
| Inventory/Shipment Ratio | 1.47 | 1.49 | 1.51 | 1.52 | 1.55 |
