After reporting a sharp drop in new orders for manufactured goods in the previous month, the Commerce Department released a report on Wednesday showing a rebound in factory orders in the month of April.
The report said factory orders increased by 1.0 percent in April compared to a revised 4.7 percent decrease in March. Economists had been expecting orders to rise by 1.5 percent.
The increase in factory orders in April was largely due to a rebound by orders for transportation equipment, which surged up by 8.4 percent following a 15.0 percent drop in March.
Excluding the jump in orders for transportation equipment, however, factory orders edged down by 0.1 percent in April compared to a 2.8 percent drop in March.
The report said orders for durable goods rose by 3.5 percent in April following a 5.9 percent drop in March, while orders for non-durable goods fell by 1.0 percent after a 3.5 percent decrease in the previous month.
The Commerce Department also said shipments of manufactured goods fell for the second consecutive month, sliding by 0.7 percent in April following a 1.5 percent drop in March.
On the other hand, inventories of manufactured goods rose for the fifth straight month, climbing by 0.2 percent in April after edging up by less than a tenth of a percent in the previous month.
With inventories rising and shipments falling, the inventories-to-shipments ratio inched up to 1.31 in April from 1.30 in March.
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