WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A report released by the Commerce Department on Thursday unexpectedly showed a modest pullback by new orders for U.S. manufactured goods in the month of August.
The Commerce Department said factory orders dipped by 0.2 percent in August after surging by a slightly downwardly revised 4.9 percent in July.
Economists had expected factory orders to rise by 0.2 percent compared to the 5.0 percent spike originally reported for the previous month.
The modest decrease by factory orders came as orders for non-durable goods slid by 0.5 percent, offsetting a slight uptick in orders for durable goods.
The report also said shipments of manufactured goods fell by 0.5 percent in August after climbing by 0.8 percent in July.
Meanwhile, inventories of manufactured goods inched up by 0.1 percent in August after coming in virtually unchanged in July.
With inventories edging higher and shipments falling, the inventories-to-shipments ratio crept up to 1.46 in August from 1.45 in July.
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