February 2008

New orders for manufactured durable goods in January decreased $12 billion or 5.3 percent to $212.8 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau announced. This decrease followed two consecutive monthly increases including a 4.4 percent December increase. Excluding transportation, new orders decreased 1.6 percent. Excluding defense, new orders decreased 4.7 percent.

Shipments
Shipments of manufactured durable goods in January, up following two consecutive monthly decreases, increased $3.8 billion or 1.8 percent to $215.5 billion. This followed a 0.4 percent December decrease.

Unfilled Orders
Unfilled orders for manufactured durable goods in January, up thirty-two of the last thirty-three months, increased $5.2 billion or 0.6 percent to $813.2 billion. …

The Producer Price Index for Finished Goods rose 1.0 percent in January, seasonally adjusted, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported. This increase followed a decline of 0.3 percent in December and a 2.6-percent advance in November. At the earlier stages of processing, prices for intermediate goods moved up 1.4 percent after falling 0.2 percent in the prior month, and the crude goods index increased 2.5 percent following a 1.1-percent advance in December.
 
The index for materials and components for construction climbed 0.4 percent in January after inching up 0.1 percent in December. Prices for nonferrous wire and cable jumped 3.8 percent in January following a 3.3-percent drop a month earlier. The index for millwork also turned up after falling …

The Canadian Machinery and Equipment Price Index stood at 83.8 (1997=100) in the fourth quarter, down 3.3% from the third quarter. The import component index fell 5.1%, while the domestic index edged down 0.5%. Compared with the fourth quarter of 2006, the total MEPI was down 8.1%, as the import index decreased 12.3% while the domestic index edged down 0.8%.

All industries recorded decreases in prices of machinery and equipment purchased in the fourth quarter. Manufacturing industries (-3.9%) contributed the most to the total MEPI quarterly decrease.
Among the sector’s subcomponents, the largest contributors to the quarterly decrease were transportation equipment manufacturing (-4.3%), primary metal and fabricated metal …

Building Permits
Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in January were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,048,000. This is 3.0 percent below the revised December rate of 1,080,000 and is 33.1 percent below the revised January 2007 estimate of 1,566,000.
 
Single-family authorizations in January were at a rate of 673,000; this is 4.1 percent below the December figure of 702,000. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 336,000 in January.

Housing Starts
Privately-owned housing starts in January were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,012,000. This is 0.8 percent above the revised December estimate of 1,004,000, but is 27.9 percent below the revised January 2007 rate of …