U.S. Factory Orders Unexpectedly Decrease 0.5% In May

The Commerce Department released a report on Wednesday showing an unexpected decrease by new orders for U.S. manufacturing goods in the month of May.

The report said factory orders fell by 0.5 percent in May after rising by a downwardly revised 0.4 percent in April. Economists had expected factory orders to inch up by 0.2 percent compared to the 0.7 percent increase originally reported for the previous month.

The unexpected decrease by factory orders reflected a sharp pullback by orders for non-durable goods, which tumbled by 1.0 percent in May after climbing by 0.5 percent in April.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department said durable goods orders crept up by 0.1 percent in May after rising by 0.2 percent in April.

The report also said shipments of manufactured goods declined by 0.7 percent in May following a 0.8 percent increase in April.

On the other hand, the Commerce Department said inventories of manufactured goods rose by 0.2 percent in May after inching up by 0.1 percent in April.

With inventories increasing and shipments falling, the inventories-to-shipments ratio ticked up to 1.47 in May from 1.46 in April.

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