December 2010 Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories and New Orders

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Shipments, inventories and new orders all posted gains at the total manufacturing level during December, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
 

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Shipments, up four consecutive months, increased $8.4 billion (2.0 percent) to $436.0 billion. Durable goods shipments increased $3.2 billion (1.6 percent) to $200.8 billion, led by machinery. Petroleum and coal products helped pushed nondurable goods shipments up by $5.2 billion (2.3 percent) to $235.2 billion.

Solid wood shipments rose by 1.0 percent while Paper advanced 0.6 percent.
 

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Data from the Association of American Railroads (AAR) and the Ceridian-UCLA Pulse of Commerce Index (PCI) help round out the picture on goods shipments. AAR reported a substantial jump in rail shipments during December -- a not-entirely unexpected result since shipments typically rise between November and December. The PCI (which measures diesel consumption of highway trucking) reversed three previous months of declines and rose by 2.4 percent in December.
 

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Inventories, up 11 of the last 12 months, increased $5.8 billion (1.1 percent) to $550.4 billion. Durable goods inventories increased $2.2 billion (0.7 percent) to $322.1 billion, unchanged from the previously published increase. Increases in transportation equipment helped keep durable goods inventories elevated. Inventories of nondurable goods increased $3.6 billion (1.6 percent) to $228.2 billion, led by petroleum and coal products.

Wood and Paper inventories both ticked up in December, by 0.3 and 0.4 percent, respectively.
 

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New orders for manufactured goods, up five of the last six months, increased $0.7 billion (0.2 percent) to $426.8 billion in December. Durable goods orders declined for a third consecutive month, decreasing by $4.5 billion (2.3 percent) to $191.6 billion, primarily because of a falloff in transportation equipment. Meanwhile, orders for nondurable goods increased $5.2 billion (2.3 percent) to $235.2 billion. Excluding transportation, total new orders increased 1.7 percent.