US Factory Orders Stall for 2nd Month

US factory orders rose 1.5% month-over-month to $630.4 billion in March 2026, beating market expectations of 0.5% and following an upwardly revised 0.3% increase in February. New orders for manufactured durable goods increased 0.8% to $318.9 billion, ending three straight months of declines. Computers and electronic products surged 3.6%, the most since March 2001, with electromedical, measuring, and control instruments up 7.9% to a record high amid an AI investment boom and data center construction. Transport equipment orders also rose 0.8%, led by vehicles (0.9%), defense aircraft and parts (17.8%), and ships and boats (30.9%). Gains were also seen in machinery (0.9%), electrical equipment, appliances, and components (0.8%), and primary metals (0.5%). Nondurable goods orders rose 2.1% to $311.5 billion, the highest level since October 2022. Excluding transportation, factory orders grew 1.6% in March, while excluding defense, orders rose 0.9%.

New orders for manufactured goods in the US were unchanged from the previous month at $619.6 billion in February of 2026, contrasting slightly with the market expectations of a 0.2% decline to mark the second consecutive stall. Orders of durable goods sank by 1.3% to $315.9 billion due to the plunge in transportation equipment (-5.3% to $106.3 billion), mostly on nondefense aircraft and parts orders (-28.6% to $19.2 billion). This was offset by higher orders of machinery (1.7% to $41.2 billion), primary metals (2.4% to $28.7 billion), and fabricated metal products (0.5% to $42.8 billion). In turn, orders of nondurable goods rose by 1.5% to $303.7 billion.

New orders for manufactured good in the US inched higher by 0.1% from the previous month to $620.1 billion in January of 2026, trimming the revised 0.4% decline in the previous month and in line with the market consensus. The uptick was carried by a 0.3% increase to $298.7 billion in nondurable goods industries. Meanwhile, durable goods orders were loosely unchanged at $321.3 billion in the period as an increase in computers and electronic products (1.3% to $28.3 billion), machinery (0.2% to $40.3 billion), fabricated metal products (0.5% to $42.8 billion), and primary metals (0.7% to 27.9 billion) offset a 0.8% decline in orders of transportation equipment (-0.8% to $113.5 billion) amid a 23.8% plunge in defense aircraft to $5.3 billion. Excluding transportation, orders were 0.4% higher, a third month of increase.