The U.S. Census Bureau released its January figures for manufactured U.S. durable goods orders on Feb. 27, showing a major downswing after a strong December.

The numbers showed that January durable goods orders were down 4.5% year-over-year to $272 billion, following a December increase of 5.1%.

Transportation drove the majority of the monthly decrease. Excluding transportation, new orders increased 0.7%. Excluding defense, new orders fell 5.1%.

Transportation equipment drove the overall decrease, down 13.3% from December to $92.8 billion. 

January unfilled orders were essentially unchanged year-over-year, up $0.3 billion to $1.157 billion, following a 1.1% increase in December. The January uptick was that category’s 29th consecutive month of increase.

January inventories of manufactured goods decreased 0.1% from December to $493 billion, following a 0.7% increase in December. The decrease was the first after 23 consecutive months of increase.

In Capital Goods:

• January nondefense new orders decreased 15.3% from December to $15.2 billion; shipments decreased 1.0%; unfilled orders decreased 0.1%; and inventories decreased 0.2%.
• January defense orders increased 3.8% to $218.5% billion; shipments decreased 1.2%; unfilled orders increased 0.5% and inventories increased 0.9%.