U.S. factory orders fall in April -
Thursday, June 3, 2004 4:52:40 PM
WASHINGTON (AFX) -- Orders for new U.S.-made factory goods fell a sharper-than-expected 1.7 percent in April after the prior month's gains were revised upward, the Commerce Department said Thursday
Economists surveyed by CBS MarketWatch had forecast a 1.4 percent decline in factory orders in April
Shipments from factories fell 0.5 percent, the sharpest decline since August, while inventories rose 0.4 percent in April
March's factory orders were revised to a 5.0 percent gain from the initial estimate of a 4.3 percent gain
"The April decline undoubtedly represents payback from an unsustainable surge in March," said Josh Shapiro, chief U.S. economist at MFR, Inc., "underlying trends are very strong." Orders for durable goods in April were revised downward to a 3.2 percent decline from the 2.9 percent drop estimated a week ago. That is the sharpest decline since September 2002. Orders for nondurable goods were unchanged in the month
Unfilled orders, a gauge of production bottlenecks, increased 0.5 percent in the month, after rising 1.4 percent in March
In April, orders for core capital goods fell 3 percent
The decline in durable goods orders was widespread. Transportation orders fell 4.8 percent, as defense aircraft fell 5.8 percent
Excluding transportation, total orders fell 1.2 percent, the sharpest drop in a year
Excluding defense goods, total orders fell 1.5 percent, the largest decline since last April
Orders for primary metals dropped 6.7 percent. Orders for machinery fell 5.0 percent, while orders for computers and other electronics fell 4.2 percent in April
The report follows news from earlier this week that manufacturers added to their payrolls in May, boosting the factory sector to its fastest pace of activity since January
In a separate report Thursday, the Institute for Supply Management said its non-manufacturing index fell to 65.2 percent from a record 68.4 in April, indicating a slower pace of expansion. . And the Labor Department separately reported that the average number of new weekly seasonally adjusted claims for state unemployment benefits rose by 4,250 to 341,000 in the four weeks ended May 29, after falling to a three-year low two weeks ago
In a separate report, the Labor Department also said Thursday productivity in the U.S. non-farm business sector increased at a 3.8 percent annual rate in the first quarter, revised higher from an earlier estimate of 3.5 percent
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