United States Factory Orders

Factory orders in the US sank 3.6% month-over-month in October 2023, following a downwardly revised 2.3% rise in September, and worse than market forecasts of a 2.8% fall. It is the biggest decrease since April 2020, in a sign the industrial sector is suffering from high interest rates and inflation. Orders for transportation equipment sank 14.7%, namely nondefense aircraft and parts (-49.6%). Orders also declined for electrical equipment, appliances, and components (-1.1%), machinery (-0.3%) and primary metals (-0.3%). In contrast, orders rose for fabricated metal products (0.4%) and computers and electronic products (0.3%). Excluding transportation, factory orders were down 1.2% and excluding defense, orders sank 4.2%.