New orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods rebounded sharply in November, rising 5.3% to $323.8 billion as transportation equipment and business investment in capital goods drove one of the strongest monthly gains of the year, according to advance data released Jan. 26 by the U.S. Census Bureau.
The increase followed a 2.1% decline in October and marked the third rise in the past four months.
Transportation equipment accounted for all the gain, with orders climbing 14.7% to $119.3 billion. Excluding transportation, new orders rose 0.5%. Excluding defense, orders increased 6.6%, pointing to stronger commercial demand rather than government-driven activity.
A key signal of business investment also strengthened. Nondefense capital goods orders — often viewed as a proxy for companies’ equipment spending — jumped 20% in November to $108.1 billion.
At the same time, shipments of those goods fell 2% to $88.6 billion, indicating manufacturers are booking orders faster than they can produce and deliver them.
That imbalance showed up in backlogs. Unfilled orders for durable goods increased for the 16th time in 17 months, rising 1.3% to $1.51 trillion. Transportation equipment led to an increase, with unfilled orders up 2% to $949.1 billion.
While orders accelerated, shipments slipped. Shipments of durable goods declined 0.2% to $308.7 billion after a 0.5% increase in October. Transportation equipment again drove the change, with shipments down 1.7% to $100.8 billion.
Inventories rose 0.2% to $591.7 billion, the second consecutive monthly increase. Transportation equipment inventories increased 0.4% to $187.1 billion.
Defense-related activity moved in the opposite direction. Defense capital goods orders fell 14.3% to $14.8 billion, while shipments rose 2.8% and inventories increased 2.3%.
The data reflects continued volatility in large-ticket equipment categories while pointing to strengthening underlying business demand and persistent pressure on manufacturers to convert orders into shipments.
Revised October figures show total manufacturing new orders at $605.2 billion, shipments at $607.1 billion, unfilled orders at $1.49 trillion and total inventories at $947.1 billion across all manufacturing industries.
The figures are seasonally adjusted but not adjusted for inflation. The Census Bureau noted that statistical confidence measures cannot be calculated for this survey.
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