Reflecting a sharp increase in orders for non-durable goods, the Commerce Department released a report on Friday showing a bigger than expected rebound in new orders for U.S. manufactured goods in the month of December.
The Commerce Department said factory orders surged up by 1.3 percent in December after tumbling by a revised 2.3 percent in November.
Economists had expected factory orders to increase by 0.9 percent compared to the 2.4 percent slump originally reported for the previous month.
The bigger than expected rebound in factory orders came as orders for non-durable goods spiked by 3.1 percent in December after edging up by 0.2 percent in November.
On the other hand, the report showed a continued decrease in durable goods orders, which fell by 0.5 percent in December after plunging by 4.7 percent in the previous month.
The Commerce Department also said shipments of manufactured goods jumped by 2.2 percent in December after rising by 0.3 percent in November.
Inventories of manufactured goods also inched up by 0.1 percent in December following a 0.5 percent increase in November.
With shipments rising much more than inventories, the inventories-to-shipments ratio fell to 1.31 in December from 1.34 in the previous month.
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