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Factory Orders Post Robust March Gain, Up 3%
Published: Tuesday, 3 May 2011 | 10:04 AM ET Text Size By: Reuters

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New orders received by U.S. factories climbed robustly in March, posting a fifth straight monthly gain that pointed to a healthy manufacturing sector that is supporting a continuing recovery, government data on Tuesday showed.



The Commerce Department said new orders for manufactured goods rose 3 percent to a seasonally adjusted $463 billion, well above Wall Street economists forecasts for a 1.9 percent pickup. February orders previously reported as having fallen by 0.1 percent were sharply revised to instead show a 0.7 percent increase.

 

Robust?

Don't get me wrong gains are good, however our "recovery" has been pretty wimpy so far except for the stock market and such things as the big guys play in.

Of course buying stocks puts not one bit of capitol in the industires unless you are buying from the issuing company.

 

yes we are a long way off from normal.

there isnt any magic bullet

 

Seasonality, hun.

We had an incredibly cold and stormy winter, which slowed down the manufacturing sector.

 

Well its not a lot but its better than stagnant or decline.

Thanks for the story.

 

Robustly?

The factory orders are a positive sign, and are pretty much responsible for keeping the US out of a depression, but calling a 3% gain robust is a bit like calling the rise in unemployment unexpected.

 

The OP remarks this is the 5th straight monthly gain.....March, February, January, December, November.....

Wouldn't this suggest that incredibly cold and stormy weather HELPED the manufacturing sector?

 

oh the myopia...............


Consumer Price Index, a key measure of inflation....



Unemployment vs. payroll (real hourly earnings)



Jobs lost and gained during/after each recession....



Simply the # of jobs available.....



Capacity Utilization , measures the amount of slack in an economy (80% ids typical)



the S&P 500index.....



US Industrail production



Inventory/sales ratio (high inv means little sales)



Retail sales



Balance of trade (import/exports)



Productivity (only to '07, but you get the jist)



Consumer Borrowing



Personal expenses and savings as % of disposable income....



Durable Good orders



Personal savings and debt



Construction spending



Manufacturing index



Consumer Confidence



Real Economic growth (final estimates released 3 mon's later)



New Home sales



Juxstaposed with existing home sales



and again with housing starts (and yet again with population increase...)



Producer Prices (measures inflation for manufactures)

 

This sounds like good news.\

But one statistic is but one statistic, too.

It may be a harbinger of better times, or it could mean not much.

The real proof of the pudding will be found in the employment numbers.

When Americans are going back to work in BIG BIG numbers, THEN things actually will be better.

 

Yeah, but factory orders are up.