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FOR RELEASE AT 8:30 AM EST, TUESDAY, JANUARY 28, 2020 

MONTHLY ADVANCE REPORT ON DURABLE GOODS MANUFACTURERS’ SHIPMENTS, 

INVENTORIES AND ORDERS DECEMBER 2019 

Release Number: CB 20-16 M3-1 (19)-12 

January 28, 2020 — The U.S. Census Bureau announces the December advance report on durable goods 

manufacturers’ shipments, inventories and orders: 

New Orders 

New orders for manufactured durable goods in December increased $5.7 billion or 2.4 percent to $245.5 

billion, the U.S. Census Bureau announced today. This increase, up two of the last three months, followed 

a 3.1 percent November decrease. Excluding transportation, new orders decreased 0.1 percent. Excluding 

defense, new orders decreased 2.5 percent. Transportation equipment, up following three consecutive 

monthly decreases, drove the increase, $5.9 billion or 7.6 percent to $82.9 billion. 

Shipments 

Shipments of manufactured durable goods in December, down six consecutive months, decreased $0.5 

billion or 0.2 percent to $250.4 billion. This followed a 0.1 percent November decrease. Transportation 

equipment, also down six consecutive months, led the decrease, $0.4 billion or 0.4 percent to $83.2 billion. 

DURABLE GOODS – NEW ORDERS 

DECEMBER 2019 $245.5 billion +2.4%° 

NOVEMBER 2019 

(revised) $239.8 billion -3.1%° 

Next release: February 27, 2020 

Data adjusted for seasonal variation but not for price changes. 

°Statistical significance is not measurable for this survey. The Manufacturers' Shipments, 

Inventories, and Orders estimates are not based on a probability sample, so the sampling 

error of these estimates cannot be measured nor can the confidence intervals be computed. 

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories and Orders, January 28, 

2020.

Jan-19 Feb-19 Mar-19 Apr-19 May-19 Jun-19 Jul-19 Aug-19 Sep-19 Oct-19 Nov-19 Dec-19

% Change 0.5% -2.6% 1.7% -2.8% -2.3% 1.8% 2.1% 0.2% -1.5% 0.2% -3.1% 2.4%

-8.0%

-7.0%

-6.0%

-5.0%

-4.0%

-3.0%

-2.0%

-1.0%

0.0%

1.0%

2.0%

3.0%

4.0%

5.0%

6.0%

7.0%

8.0%

DURABLE GOODS NEW ORDERS 2019

Seasonally Adjusted, Month-To-Month Percentage Change

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories, and Orders, 

January 28, 2020. 
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Unfilled Orders 

Unfilled orders for manufactured durable goods in December, down three of the last four months, 

decreased $0.8 billion or 0.1 percent to $1,156.0 billion. This followed a 0.6 percent November decrease. 

Machinery, down fourteen consecutive months, led the decrease, $0.5 billion or 0.5 percent to $101.6 

billion. 

Inventories 

Inventories of manufactured durable goods in December, up seventeen of the last eighteen months, 

increased $2.2 billion or 0.5 percent to $436.0 billion. This followed a 0.4 percent November increase. 

Transportation equipment, also up seventeen of the last eighteen months, led the increase, $1.7 billion or 

1.2 percent to $151.2 billion. 

Capital Goods 

Nondefense new orders for capital goods in December decreased $4.5 billion or 6.5 percent to $64.5 

billion. Shipments increased $0.4 billion or 0.5 percent to $74.8 billion. Unfilled orders decreased $10.3 

billion or 1.5 percent to $671.6 billion. Inventories increased $2.2 billion or 1.1 percent to $199.2 billion. 

Defense new orders for capital goods in December increased $9.1 billion or 90.2 percent to $19.2 billion. 

Shipments decreased $0.3 billion or 2.5 percent to $12.4 billion. Unfilled orders increased $6.8 billion or 

4.3 percent to $165.0 billion. Inventories decreased $0.3 billion or 1.3 percent to $24.0 billion. 

Revised November Data

Revised seasonally adjusted November figures for all manufacturing industries were: new orders, $490.6 

billion (revised from $493.0 billion); shipments, $501.7 billion (revised from $502.2 billion); unfilled orders, 

$1,156.7 billion (revised from $1,158.7 billion) and total inventories, $701.1 billion (revised from $701.0 

billion). 

Revised and more detailed estimates, plus nondurable goods data, will be published on February 4, 2020, 

at 10:00 a.m. EST. The Advance Report on durable goods for January is scheduled for release on February 

27, 2020 at 8:30 a.m. EST. View the full schedule in the Economic Briefing Room: 

<www.census.gov/economic-indicators/> The full text and tables of this release can be found at

www.census.gov/m3>.
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EXPLANATORY NOTES 

Figures in text are adjusted for seasonality, but not for inflation. Figures on new and unfilled orders 

exclude data for semiconductor manufacturing. 

“Virtually unchanged” indicates that the change is less than 0.05 percent for a percent increase or 

decrease. 

Description of the survey 

This report is compiled from results of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories, 

and Orders (M3) survey, which is a voluntary survey authorized by Title 13 of the United States Code. This 

survey provides statistics on a calendar-month basis for manufacturers' value of shipments, new orders 

(net of cancellations), end-of-month order backlog (unfilled orders), end-of-month total inventory (at 

current cost or market value), and inventories by stage of fabrication (materials and supplies, work-inprocess, and finished goods). Data published from the M3 survey are based on a panel of approximately 

5,000 reporting units that represent approximately 3,100 companies and provide an indication of monthto-month change for the Manufacturing Sector. These reporting units may be divisions of diversified large 

companies, large homogenous companies, or single-unit manufacturers in 92 industry categories, which 

are combined into 65 publication levels due to the small monthly panel size. The survey methodology 

assumes that the month-to-month changes of the total operations of the reporting units in the M3 panel 

effectively represent the month-to-month movements of all establishments that make up the category. 

The companies for which shipments data are currently reported or imputed in the M3 survey represent 

approximately 64 percent of the total value of shipments for manufacturing establishments in the 2012 

Economic Census, and these companies include almost two-thirds of the manufacturing companies with 

$500 million or more in shipments in the 2012 Economic Census. The companies for which shipments data 

are currently reported in the M3 survey represent approximately 57 percent of the total value of 

shipments for manufacturing establishments in the 2012 Economic Census. Statistics based on the M3 

panel differ from the results that would be obtained from a complete enumeration of all manufacturing 

companies. The M3 panel is not based on a probability sample; therefore, the sampling errors that are 

normally provided with sample surveys cannot be measured. Nonsampling errors are attributable to many 

sources. The use of company or divisional reports to estimate the monthly change for establishments is 

one source of nonsampling error. The use of primarily large companies to represent the month-to-month 

movement of all companies is another potential source. Any corrections will be published in the full 

report. Corrections received after the full report will be released in the next month’s advance report. Any 
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revisions made later than two months will be reflected in the annual benchmark publication. Additional 

survey documentation can be found on our web site: 

<www.census.gov/manufacturing/m3/how_the_data_are_collected/index.html>. 

BENCHMARK NOTICE 

Revised historical data from the Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories, and Orders (M3) Survey will be 

issued on May 15, 2020. These revisions result from 

• benchmarking the M3 shipments and inventories data to the 2017 Economic Census data on a 

2017 NAICS basis; 

• incorporating the unfilled orders to shipments ratios obtained for 2017 and 2016 from the 

Manufacturers’ Unfilled Orders (M3UFO) Survey by applying these ratios to the respective 2017 

Economic Census data and 2016 ASM shipments data; 

• adjusting the new orders data to be consistent with the benchmarked shipments and unfilled 

orders data; 

• correcting monthly data for late receipts, reclassifications of reported data, and revisions to 

previously reported data; 

• updating the seasonally adjusted data based on the results of benchmarking and the recent 

annual review of the seasonal adjustment models. 

These revisions will span the seasonally adjusted data for January 2007 through March 2020 and the data 

not seasonally adjusted for January 2012 through March 2020. An updated Press Release will contain 

revised monthly tables for January 2020 through March 2020. Please call M3 staff on (301) 763-4832 with 

any questions. 

RESOURCES 

API 

The Census Bureau’s application programming interface (API) lets developers create custom apps to reach 

new users and makes key demographic, socio-economic and housing statistics more accessible than ever 

before. 

<www.census.gov/developers/> 
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FRED Mobile App 

Receive the latest updates on the nation’s key economic indicators by downloading 

the FRED App <https://fred.stlouisfed.org/fred-mobile/> for both Apple and 

Android devices. FRED, the signature database of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. 

Louis, now incorporates the Census Bureau’s 13 economic indicators. 

### 
Table 1. Durable Goods Manufacturers' Shipments and New Orders 1

[Estimates are shown in millions of dollars and are based on data from the Manufacturers' Shipments, Inventories, and Orders Survey.]

Seasonally Adjusted Not Seasonally Adjusted 

Monthly Percent Change Monthly Year to Date

Item Percent

Dec Nov Oct Nov - Oct - Sep - Dec Nov Dec Change

2019 22019 r

2019 Dec 2

Nov r Oct 2019 22019 r

2018 2019 2018 2019/2018

DURABLE GOODS

 Total:

 Shipments................................ 250,420 250,924 251,286 -0.2 -0.1 -0.1 246,076 240,766 252,945 3,043,747 3,017,198 0.9

 New Orders4.............................. 245,484 239,808 247,442 2.4 -3.1 0.2 247,595 229,781 257,011 2,966,690 3,012,085 -1.5

 Excluding transportation:

 Shipments................................ 167,213 167,347 167,541 -0.1 -0.1 0.0 165,035 159,313 163,558 2,011,954 1,984,874 1.4

 New Orders4.............................. 162,545 162,732 163,407 -0.1 -0.4 0.2 159,294 152,999 158,880 1,959,356 1,953,023 0.3

 Excluding defense:

 Shipments................................ 236,248 236,305 236,521 0.0 -0.1 -0.1 230,355 225,268 236,763 2,867,695 2,853,858 0.5

 New Orders4.............................. 222,776 228,548 229,761 -2.5 -0.5 0.0 221,253 218,350 237,670 2,780,587 2,828,611 -1.7

 Manufacturing with unfilled orders:

 Shipments................................ 173,850 173,725 174,216 0.1 -0.3 0.3 174,042 166,392 179,832 2,107,562 2,101,318 0.3

 New Orders.............................. 173,100 166,829 174,593 3.8 -4.4 0.7 179,270 160,231 187,609 2,081,369 2,144,540 -2.9

 Primary metals:

 Shipments................................ 19,817 19,869 20,042 -0.3 -0.9 -1.0 17,888 18,396 19,084 245,464 255,144 -3.8

 New Orders.............................. 19,678 19,795 20,129 -0.6 -1.7 -1.7 18,182 18,943 19,670 245,776 258,369 -4.9

 Fabricated metal products:

 Shipments................................ 33,727 33,864 33,809 -0.4 0.2 -0.2 31,345 32,084 30,845 404,377 393,199 2.8

 New Orders.............................. 33,507 33,416 33,698 0.3 -0.8 1.1 30,517 31,039 30,603 404,240 399,389 1.2

 Machinery:

 Shipments................................ 32,714 32,625 33,014 0.3 -1.2 0.8 33,250 29,968 33,065 396,371 391,475 1.3

 New Orders.............................. 32,222 32,577 32,904 -1.1 -1.0 0.8 31,933 29,569 31,724 392,220 393,938 -0.4

 Computers and electronic products4:

 Shipments................................ 27,818 27,905 27,803 -0.3 0.4 0.3 31,589 27,900 31,498 333,633 323,402 3.2

 New Orders.............................. 23,785 23,598 23,595 0.8 0.0 0.4 28,250 22,436 28,799 283,601 279,640 1.4

 Computers and related products:

 Shipments................................ 1,756 1,908 1,753 -8.0 8.8 6.0 2,387 1,759 2,337 21,069 21,929 -3.9

 New Orders.............................. 1,757 1,945 1,783 -9.7 9.1 5.2 2,388 1,796 2,341 21,087 22,246 -5.2

 

 Communications equipment:

 Shipments................................ 3,922 3,816 3,823 2.8 -0.2 -1.3 5,264 3,512 4,992 46,071 42,465 8.5

 New Orders.............................. 4,046 3,812 3,705 6.1 2.9 -0.1 5,336 3,411 4,713 44,957 43,499 3.4

 Electrical equipment, appliances, 

 and components: 

 Shipments................................ 11,818 11,768 11,509 0.4 2.3 -2.1 11,621 11,324 11,073 140,067 135,689 3.2

 New Orders.............................. 11,832 11,901 11,669 -0.6 2.0 -1.5 11,442 11,320 10,793 141,120 135,612 4.1

 Transportation equipment: 

 Shipments................................ 83,207 83,577 83,745 -0.4 -0.2 -0.3 81,041 81,453 89,387 1,031,793 1,032,324 -0.1

 New Orders.............................. 82,939 77,076 84,035 7.6 -8.3 0.0 88,301 76,782 98,131 1,007,334 1,059,062 -4.9

 Motor vehicles and parts:

 Shipments................................ 58,966 59,265 58,840 -0.5 0.7 -2.0 53,182 56,803 55,076 728,296 707,009 3.0

 New Orders.............................. 58,925 59,438 58,515 -0.9 1.6 -1.8 54,080 57,370 55,999 727,000 707,694 2.7

 

 Nondefense aircraft and parts:

 Shipments................................ 9,904 9,379 10,023 5.6 -6.4 7.4 12,545 9,263 18,979 128,203 162,554 -21.1

 New Orders.............................. 1,454 5,736 8,016 -74.7 -28.4 9.2 9,033 7,240 24,166 97,967 167,632 -41.6

 Defense aircraft and parts:

 Shipments................................ 3,766 4,126 4,358 -8.7 -5.3 3.1 4,521 4,256 5,576 53,186 54,644 -2.7

 New Orders.............................. 5,887 2,194 7,110 168.3 -69.1 14.7 8,484 2,346 6,529 58,197 64,339 -9.5

 All other durable goods: 

 Shipments................................ 41,319 41,316 41,364 0.0 -0.1 0.2 39,342 39,641 37,993 492,042 485,965 1.3

 New Orders.............................. 41,521 41,445 41,412 0.2 0.1 0.5 38,970 39,692 37,291 492,399 486,075 1.3

 Capital goods3:

 Shipments................................ 87,212 87,164 87,896 0.1 -0.8 1.1 95,908 84,223 101,306 1,061,712 1,068,095 -0.6

 New Orders.............................. 83,681 79,052 88,043 5.9 -10.2 3.6 95,963 76,102 107,454 1,029,886 1,086,199 -5.2

 Nondefense capital goods:

 Shipments................................ 74,780 74,409 75,045 0.5 -0.8 1.3 82,324 70,566 87,373 909,297 928,374 -2.1

 New Orders.............................. 64,493 68,962 72,456 -6.5 -4.8 2.0 74,123 65,737 90,465 870,007 934,982 -6.9

 Excluding aircraft:

 Shipments........................... 68,823 69,065 69,285 -0.4 -0.3 0.7 73,868 65,280 72,883 831,767 815,851 2.0

 New Orders.......................... 68,618 69,257 69,215 -0.9 0.1 1.0 72,141 64,732 70,839 826,916 820,706 0.8

 Defense capital goods:

 Shipments................................ 12,432 12,755 12,851 -2.5 -0.7 0.0 13,584 13,657 13,933 152,415 139,721 9.1

 New Orders.............................. 19,188 10,090 15,587 90.2 -35.3 11.9 21,840 10,365 16,989 159,879 151,217 5.7

r Revised data due to late receipts and concurrent seasonal adjustment. 

1 Estimates of shipments and new orders are for the duration of the period, while estimates of unfilled orders and total inventories are for the end of the period. Not seasonally adjusted estimates of 

shipments and new orders include adjusted data for non-calendar reporters. Seasonally adjusted estimates include concurrent adjustments for holiday and trading-day differences, where appropriate, 

as well as seasonal variation, based on the results of the latest annual review of the model parameters. Estimates are not adjusted for price changes. 

2 Based on advance sample. Estimates of manufacturers' shipments, inventories, and orders are subject to survey error and revision. One major component of survey error is nonsampling error, which includes errors of coverage, response and 

nonreporting. Since the survey panel is not a probability sample, estimates of sampling error cannot be calculated. For further details on survey design, methodology, and data limitations, see http://www.census.gov/manufacturing/m3. 

3

 The Capital Goods Industries include Nondefense : small arms and ordnance; farm machinery and equipment; construction machinery; mining, oil, and gas field machinery; industrial machinery; vending, laundry, and other machinery; photographic 

equipment; metalworking machinery; turbines and generators; other power transmission equipment; pumps and compressors; material handling equipment; all other machinery; electronic computers; computer storage devices; other computer 

peripheral equipment; communications equipment; search and navigation equipment; electromedical, measuring, and control instruments; electrical equipment; other electrical equipment, appliances, and components; heavy duty trucks; aircraft; 

railroad rolling stock; ships and boats; office and institutional furniture; and medical equipment and supplies. Defense Capital Goods include : small arms and ordnance, communications equipment, aircraft; missiles, space vehicles, and parts, ships and 

boats, and search and navigation equipment. 

4

 Estimates and percent changes of shipments and inventories for the semiconductor industry are included in computers and electronic products, and all other applicable aggregate totals. Estimates and percent changes for new orders and unfilled 

orders exclude semiconductor industry data. 

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories, and Orders (M3) Survey, December Advance Report, January 28, 2020. Information on data sources and methodology can be found on our website at 

<www.census.gov/manufacturing/m3/how_the_data_are_collected/index.html>. 
Table 2. Durable Goods Manufacturers' Unfilled Orders and Total Inventories 1

[Estimates are shown in millions of dollars and are based on data from the Manufacturers' Shipments, Inventories, and Orders Survey.]

Seasonally Adjusted Not Seasonally Adjusted 

Monthly Percent Change Monthly Percent

Item Change

Dec Nov Oct Nov - Oct - Sep - Dec Nov Dec 2019/

2019 2 2019 r 2019 Dec 2Nov r Oct 2019 2 2019

 r

2018 2018

DURABLE GOODS

 Total:

 Unfilled Orders4......................... 1,155,976 1,156,726 1,163,622 -0.1 -0.6 0.0 1,153,441 1,148,213 1,179,634 -2.2

 Total Inventories....................... 436,027 433,828 432,095 0.5 0.4 0.3 423,970 433,226 404,973 4.7

 Excluding transportation:

 Unfilled Orders4......................... 367,840 368,322 368,717 -0.1 -0.1 0.0 361,323 363,355 363,057 -0.5

 Total Inventories....................... 284,829 284,357 284,609 0.2 -0.1 -0.2 277,651 283,479 277,207 0.2

 Excluding defense:

 Unfilled Orders4........................... 946,644 955,930 959,467 -1.0 -0.4 -0.3 943,075 948,468 979,319 -3.7

 Total Inventories....................... 407,543 405,049 403,357 0.6 0.4 0.3 395,678 404,471 378,123 4.6

 Manufacturing with unfilled orders:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 1,155,976 1,156,726 1,163,622 -0.1 -0.6 0.0 1,153,441 1,148,213 1,179,634 -2.2

 Total Inventories....................... 357,027 354,526 352,943 0.7 0.4 0.4 347,096 354,097 329,705 5.3

 Primary metals:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 31,829 31,968 32,042 -0.4 -0.2 0.3 31,415 31,121 31,103 1.0

 Total Inventories....................... 35,424 34,993 34,798 1.2 0.6 -0.3 35,078 34,721 36,359 -3.5

 Fabricated metal products:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 85,698 85,918 86,366 -0.3 -0.5 -0.1 83,427 84,255 83,564 -0.2

 Total Inventories....................... 53,652 53,814 54,246 -0.3 -0.8 -0.2 52,768 53,294 53,795 -1.9

 Machinery: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 101,552 102,044 102,092 -0.5 0.0 -0.1 99,649 100,966 103,800 -4.0

 Total Inventories....................... 71,640 71,624 71,952 0.0 -0.5 -0.4 69,187 72,093 68,188 1.5

 Computers and electronic products4:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 118,666 118,513 118,600 0.1 -0.1 0.0 117,875 117,505 117,043 0.7

 Total Inventories....................... 43,910 43,788 43,489 0.3 0.7 -0.2 42,366 43,862 41,733 1.5

 Computers and related products:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 2,213 2,212 2,175 0.0 1.7 1.4 2,213 2,212 2,195 0.8

 Total Inventories....................... 3,976 3,882 3,836 2.4 1.2 -1.1 3,738 3,938 3,534 5.8

 

 Communications equipment:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 25,224 25,100 25,104 0.5 0.0 -0.5 24,979 24,907 26,093 -4.3

 Total Inventories....................... 5,522 5,465 5,546 1.0 -1.5 -0.5 5,239 5,584 5,140 1.9

 Electrical equipment, appliances, 

 and components: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 20,488 20,474 20,341 0.1 0.7 0.8 20,008 20,187 18,955 5.6

 Total Inventories....................... 20,378 20,374 20,414 0.0 -0.2 0.7 19,422 20,011 18,803 3.3

 Transportation equipment: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 788,136 788,404 794,905 0.0 -0.8 0.0 792,118 784,858 816,577 -3.0

 Total Inventories....................... 151,198 149,471 147,486 1.2 1.3 1.3 146,319 149,747 127,766 14.5

 Motor vehicles and parts:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 25,897 25,938 25,765 -0.2 0.7 -1.2 25,896 24,998 27,192 -4.8

 Total Inventories....................... 38,906 39,011 38,981 -0.3 0.1 -0.1 37,402 38,945 35,744 4.6

 

 Nondefense Aircraft and parts:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 565,146 573,596 577,239 -1.5 -0.6 -0.3 567,952 571,464 598,188 -5.1

 Total Inventories....................... 82,294 80,073 78,348 2.8 2.2 2.0 79,219 80,360 64,333 23.1

 Defense Aircraft and parts: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 85,805 83,684 85,616 2.5 -2.3 3.3 87,200 83,237 82,189 6.1

 Total Inventories....................... 13,430 13,445 13,528 -0.1 -0.6 0.2 13,359 13,521 12,814 4.3

 All other durable goods: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 9,607 9,405 9,276 2.1 1.4 0.5 8,949 9,321 8,592 4.2

 Total Inventories....................... 59,825 59,764 59,710 0.1 0.1 0.0 58,830 59,498 58,329 0.9

 Capital goods3:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 836,628 840,159 848,271 -0.4 -1.0 0.0 835,371 835,316 867,197 -3.7

 Total Inventories....................... 223,174 221,257 219,990 0.9 0.6 0.8 215,770 222,170 198,326 8.8

 Nondefense capital goods:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 671,621 681,908 687,355 -1.5 -0.8 -0.4 670,130 678,331 709,420 -5.5

 Total Inventories....................... 199,174 196,934 195,701 1.1 0.6 0.6 191,891 197,947 175,718 9.2

 Excluding aircraft: 

 Unfilled Orders.................... 217,800 218,005 217,813 -0.1 0.1 0.0 214,494 216,221 219,345 -2.2

 Total Inventories................... 130,078 129,584 129,814 0.4 -0.2 -0.2 125,878 130,368 123,310 2.1

 Defense capital goods:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 165,007 158,251 160,916 4.3 -1.7 1.7 165,241 156,985 157,777 4.7

 Total Inventories....................... 24,000 24,323 24,289 -1.3 0.1 1.6 23,879 24,223 22,608 5.6

r Revised data due to late receipts and concurrent seasonal adjustment. 

1 Estimates of shipments and new orders are for the duration of the period, while estimates of unfilled orders and total inventories are for the end of the period. Not seasonally adjusted estimates of shipments and 

new orders include adjusted data for non-calendar reporters. Seasonally adjusted estimates include concurrent adjustments for holiday and trading-day differences, where appropriate, as well as seasonal variation, 

based on the results of the latest annual review of the model parameters. Estimates are not adjusted for price changes. 

2

 Based on advance sample. Estimates of manufacturers' shipments, inventories, and orders are subject to survey error and revision. One major component of survey error is nonsampling error, which includes errors 

of coverage, response and nonreporting. Since the survey panel is not a probability sample, estimates of sampling error cannot be calculated. For further details on survey design, methodology, and data limitations, 

see http://www.census.gov/manufacturing/m3. 

3

 The Capital Goods Industries include Nondefense : small arms and ordnance; farm machinery and equipment; construction machinery; mining, oil, and gas field machinery; industrial machinery; vending, laundry, 

and other machinery; photographic equipment; metalworking machinery; turbines and generators; other power transmission equipment; pumps and compressors; material handling equipment; all other machinery; 

electronic computers; computer storage devices; other computer peripheral equipment; communications equipment; search and navigation equipment; electromedical, measuring, and control instruments; 

electrical equipment; other electrical equipment, appliances, and components; heavy duty trucks; aircraft; railroad rolling stock; ships and boats; office and institutional furniture; and medical equipment and 

supplies. Defense Capital Goods include : small arms and ordnance, communications equipment, aircraft; missiles, space vehicles, and parts, ships and boats, and search and navigation equipment. 

4

 Estimates and percent changes of shipments and inventories for the semiconductor industry are included in computers and electronic products, and all other applicable aggregate totals. Estimates and percent 

changes for new orders and unfilled orders exclude semiconductor industry data. 

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories, and Orders (M3) Survey, December Advance Report, January 28, 2020. Information on data sources and methodology can be found on our website 

at <www.census.gov/manufacturing/m3/how_the_data_are_collected/index.html>.