U.S. Factory Orders Pull Back In Line With Estimates In December

(RTTNews) - New orders for U.S. manufactured goods pulled back in line with expectations in the month of December, according to a report released by the Commerce Department on Monday.

The Commerce Department said factory orders slid by 0.7 percent in December after surging by 2.7 percent in November. The decrease matched economist estimates.

The pullback by factory orders came as durable goods orders slumped by1.4 percent in December after spiking by 5.4 percent in November.

Orders from transportation equipment led the way lower, plummeting by 5.4 percent in December after soaring by 15.2 percent in the previous month.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department said orders for non-durable goods were virtually unchanged in December after edging down by 0.1 percent in November.

The report also shipments of manufactured goods climbed by 0.5 percent in December after dipping by 0.2 percent in November.

Inventories of manufactured gods also crept up by 0.1 percent in December after rising by 0.2 percent in the previous month.

With shipments increasing by more than inventories, the inventories-to-shipments ratio edged down to 1.56 in December from 1.57 in November.