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Consider the following from the Census Bureau Report:
New Orders
New orders for manufactured durable goods in December decreased $4.7 billion or 2.6 percent to $176.8 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau announced today. This was the fifth consecutive monthly decrease and followed a 3.7 percent November decrease. Excluding transportation, new orders decreased 3.6 percent. Excluding defense, new orders decreased 4.9 percent.
Shipments
Shipments of manufactured durable goods in December, down five consecutive months, decreased $1.4 billion or 0.7 percent to $191.3 billion. This followed a 4.2 percent November decrease.
Unfilled Orders
Unfilled orders for manufactured durable goods in December, down three consecutive months, decreased $10.3 billion or 1.3 percent to $803.2 billion. This followed a 0.9 percent November decrease.
There is no good news in this report. Orders were down sharply and they have been dropping for several months. Consider this in light of the manufacturing information from the IMF in the post below. Then consider this chart of the manufacturing sector from Prophet.net:
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The only good news on that chart is volume has been decreasing for the last few months indicating the selling frenzy that sent the sector down by nearly 50% from its 2007 peak may have dried up.
