U.S. April factory orders fell 2.9 pct

WASHINGTON, June 5 (Reuters) - U.S. Commerce Department seasonally adjusted data on U.S. factory orders, shipments and unfilled orders. ORDERS-PCT CHANGES: April March Feb New Orders -2.9 2.1 -1.0 Ex-Transportation -2.4 2.1 -1.5 Ex-Defense -2.4 1.7 -1.9 Manufacturing with unfilled orders -2.5 1.5 -0.4 Durables -2.3 1.3 -1.1 Primary Metals 1.9 -4.7 -2.8 General Machinery -4.7 4.1 -2.5 Computers/Electronics 0.3 2.4 -4.2 Electrical Equipment Appliances -1.9 3.1 -1.7 Transport Equipment -5.1 2.1 1.8 NonDefense aircraft 48.6 -16.9 -30.5 Defense aircraft -26.4 137.8 3.4 Ships/boats -6.8 -15.2 4.2 NonDurables -3.5 2.9 -0.9 Computers and related products 15.6 -0.8 -13.1 Motor vehicles/parts -3.2 -1.6 -2.2 NonDefense Cap -0.1 3.2 -4.9 NonDefense Cap ex aircraft -2.7 4.8 -2.4 Defense Cap -19.4 16.4 37.4 Durables NonDefense -1.3 0.6 -2.9 Unfilled-Durables -0.1 0.4 unch SHIPMENTS-PCT CHANGES: April March Feb Total -2.2 1.6 -1.4 Durables -0.9 0.4 -1.9 INVENTORIES-PCT CHANGES: April March Feb Total unch -0.2 0.4 Computers and related products -3.5 0.4 -0.3 Motor vehicles and parts 0.3 -2.3 0.7 ORDERS-BLNS OF DLRS: April March Feb New Orders 319.991 329.426 322.759 Ex-Transportation 270.277 277.016 271.411 Ex-Defense 309.971 317.632 312.209 Manufacturing with unfilled orders 117.794 120.870 119.060 Durables 169.144 173.066 170.833 Primary Metals 10.558 10.364 10.871 General Machinery 21.662 22.739 21.836 Computers/Electronics 26.888 26.802 26.177 Electrical Equipment Appliances 8.673 8.841 8.574 Transport Equipment 49.714 52.410 51.348 NonDefense aircraft 4.427 2.980 3.588 Defense aircraft 4.287 5.823 2.449 Ships/boats 1.630 1.748 2.061 NonDurables 150.847 156.360 151.926 Computers and related products 7.398 6.397 6.451 Motor vehicles/parts 35.355 36.511 37.117 NonDefense Cap 55.812 55.842 54.098 NonDefense Cap ex aircraft 54.042 55.557 53.006 Defense Cap 8.752 10.863 9.333 Durables NonDefense 159.124 161.272 160.283 Unfilled-Durables 477.388 478.035 476.354 SHIPMENTS-BLNS DLRS: April March Feb Total 320.638 327.745 322.601 Durables 169.791 171.385 170.675 INVENTORIES-BLNS DLRS: April March Feb Total 432.619 432.500 433.227 Computers and related products 6.647 6.888 6.863 Motor vehicles and parts 20.742 20.678 21.170 INVENTORIES/SHIPMENTS RATIO: April March 1.35 1.32 PREVIOUSLY REPORTED PERCENT CHANGES: Apr Mar Feb Factory Orders N/A 2.2 -1.0 Durable Goods -2.4 1.4 -1.1 N/A-not available FORECAST: Reuters survey of economists forecast: U.S. April factory orders -1.5 pct HISTORICAL COMPARISONS/NOTES: U.S. APR FACTORY ORDERS LARGEST DECLINE SINCE -4.1 PCT IN NOV'01 The inventories/shipments ratio is a measure of the number of months it takes to deplete inventories at the current pace of shipments. General machinery includes groups such as industrial, farm, construction, mining and metalworking. Initial orders for April durable goods were issued on May 28.

The full report (.pdf) is here

DATA SNAP: US Factory Orders Fall In April

.
=========================================================
U.S. Factory Orders    April   March                    !
  Total Orders:       -2.9%     2.1%r      Forecast:    !
  Ex-Transportation:  -2.4%     2.1%           -1.8%    !
  Durable Goods:      -2.3%r    1.3%r                   !
=========================================================

By Jennifer Corbett Dooren Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--Orders to U.S. factories fell in April by their largest amount in more than a year.

Factory orders fell 2.9% to $319.99 billion in April, the Commerce Department said Thursday, following a revised 2.1% rise in March. March factory orders had been previously estimated as a 2.2% rise.

April durable-goods orders, first reported last week, were revised to show a 2.3% fall from the 2.4% decrease previously estimated.

The factory data was weaker than Wall Street had expected. Analysts had predicted factory orders would fall by about 1.8% for the month.

However, other recent reports on the manufacturing sector of the U.S. economy have suggested it has started to stabilize. Indeed, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan noted this week that most economic data had shown the economy was struggling in March and April, but May data has shown an improvement.

The April factory orders report showed that nondurable-goods orders, which are the primary source of new information in the report, fell 3.5%, after a 2.9% rise in March.

The report showed declines in most major categories. Transportation orders fell by 5.1% for the month, pulled down by a 26.4% drop in defense aircraft orders. Orders for cars fell 1.5% while civilian aircraft orders jumped 48.6%.

Excluding transportation orders, overall factory orders fell by 2.4% in April.

Defense capital-goods orders fell by 19.4% in April. Without defense orders, factory orders would have fallen by 2.4%. Durable-goods orders excluding defense fell 1.3% in April.

Nondefense capital goods orders - items meant to last 10 or more years - fell 2.7% if aircraft orders are excluded, suggesting business spending remained weak in April. Nondefense capital goods orders fell by 0.1%. But, orders for computers and electronic products edged up by 0.3% for the month.

Consumer-goods orders fell by 4.2%. Consumer durable-goods orders, items meant to last three years or longer, were down by 0.9% while nondurable consumer-goods orders dropped 5.4%.

Factory shipments fell 2.2% in April after rising 1.6% in March. Unfilled orders fell 0.1% while factory inventories were unchanged for the month.

March durable goods orders were also revised to a 1.3% increase from the 1.4% gain previously reported.

-By Jennifer Corbett Dooren; Dow Jones Newswires; (202) 862-9294; jennifer.corbett@dowjones.com.

-Dawn Kopecki contributed to this report.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

06-05-03 1000ET- - 10 00 AM EDT 06-05-03

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