U.S. Factory Orders Surge Up More Than Expected In August

After reporting a pullback in new orders for U.S. manufactured goods in the previous month, the Commerce Department released a report on Thursday showing a substantial rebound in factory orders in the month of August.

The Commerce Department said factory orders surged up by 2.3 percent in August after falling by a revised 0.5 percent in July.

Economists had expected factory orders to jump by 2.1 percent compared to the 0.8 percent drop originally reported for the previous month.

The rebound in factory orders came as durable goods orders spiked by 4.4 percent in August after tumbling by 1.2 percent in July.

Orders for transportation equipment led the recovery, soaring by 13.1 percent in August after plunging by 3.6 percent in July.

Excluding orders for transportation equipment, factory orders inched up by 0.1 percent for the second consecutive month.

The Commerce Department said orders for non-durable goods edged up by 0.2 percent in August after ticking up by 0.1 percent in July.

The report also said shipments of manufactured goods rose by 0.5 percent in August after coming in virtually unchanged in July.

Meanwhile, inventories of manufactured goods dipped by 0.1 percent in August after climbing by 0.9 percent in the previous month.

With shipments rising and inventories falling, the inventories-to-shipments ratio pulled back to 1.34 in August from 1.35 in July.