The US Census Bureau announced Wednesday that new orders for manufactured durable goods in August decreased $0.2 billion or 0.1 percent to $201.8 billion. New orders for primary metals had the largest decrease--$0.2 billion or 0.8 percent to $24.2 billion. New orders for primary metal products also fell 0.5 percent in August to $25.4 billion.
Shipments of primary metals were down 0.7 percent in August, while fabricated metal shipments were up 0.7 percent. Overall, shipments of manufactured durable goods fell $0.4 billion or 0.2 percent to $201 billion--following three consecutive monthly increases. Transportation equipment had the largest decrease, falling $2.3 billion or 4.6 percent to $47.1 billion.
Inventories rose again in August to $365.3 billion--up 0.9 percent from July.