FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

THURSDAY, AUGUST 25, 2016, AT 8:30 A.M. EDT 

Adriana Stoica 

Economic Indicators Division 

(301) 763-4832 

M3-1 (16)-7 

CB 16-140

Advance Report on Durable Goods Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories and Orders 

July 2016 

New Orders 

 New orders for manufactured durable goods in July 

increased $9.7 billion or 4.4 percent to $228.9 billion, 

the U.S. Census Bureau announced today. This increase, 

up following two consecutive monthly decreases, 

followed a 4.2 percent June decrease. Excluding 

transportation, new orders increased 1.5 percent. 

Excluding defense, new orders increased 3.8 percent. 

 

 Transportation equipment, also up following two 

consecutive monthly decreases, led the increase, $7.5 

billion or 10.5 percent to $78.9 billion. 

Shipments 

 Shipments of manufactured durable goods in July, up 

three of the last four months, increased $0.4 billion or 

0.2 percent to $232.9 billion. This followed a 0.5 percent 

June increase. 

 Computers and electronic products, up four 

consecutive months, drove the increase, $0.4 billion or 

1.5 percent to $27.1 billion. 

 

Unfilled Orders 

 Unfilled orders for manufactured durable goods in 

July, down two consecutive months, decreased $0.8 

billion or 0.1 percent to $1,126.6 billion. This followed 

a 0.9 percent June decrease. 

 Transportation equipment, also down two consecutive 

months, drove the decrease, $1.9 billion or 0.2 percent to 

$772.2 billion. 

Inventories 

 Inventories of manufactured durable goods in July, up 

following six consecutive monthly decreases, increased 

$1.2 billion or 0.3 percent to $383.0 billion. This 

followed a 0.1 percent June decrease. 

 Transportation equipment, up following five 

consecutive monthly decreases, led the increase, $0.5 

billion or 0.4 percent to $123.7 billion. 

Capital Goods 

 Nondefense new orders for capital goods in July 

increased $6.6 billion or 10.2 percent to $71.6 billion. 

Shipments increased less than $0.1 billion or virtually 

unchanged to $71.7 billion. Unfilled orders decreased 

$0.1 billion or virtually unchanged to $700.8 billion. 

Inventories decreased $0.3 billion or 0.2 percent to 

$169.1 billion. 

 Defense new orders for capital goods in July increased 

$2.5 billion or 35.7 percent to $9.6 billion. Shipments 

increased $0.1 billion or 1.1 percent to $10.3 billion. 

Unfilled orders decreased $0.8 billion or 0.6 percent to 

$136.0 billion. Inventories increased $0.8 billion or 3.9 

percent to $21.1 billion. 

Revised June Data 

 Revised seasonally adjusted June figures for all 

manufacturing industries were: new orders, $447.0 

billion (revised from $447.4 billion); shipments, $460.2 

billion (revised from $460.0 billion); unfilled orders, 

$1,127.4 billion (revised from $1,128.0 billion); and 

total inventories, $619.6 billion (revised from $619.1 

billion). 

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

manufacturing. For data, call (301) 763-4673 or go to <http://www.census.gov/m3>. Revised and more detailed estimates, plus 

nondurable goods data, will be published on September 2, 2016, at 10:00 a.m. EDT. The Advance Report on durable goods for August is 

scheduled for release on September 28, 2016 at 8:30 a.m. EDT. See back page for survey description. To receive the latest updates on the 

Nation's key economic indicators, download the America's Economy app for Apple and Android smartphones and tablets. To learn more 

about this release and the other indicators the U.S. Census Bureau publishes, join us for the Investigating Economic Indicators Webinar 

Series. For more information, visit www.census.gov/econ/webinar. 

“Virtually unchanged” indicates that the change is less than 0.05 percent for a percent increase or decrease. 
 2

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

Jul Jun May Jun - May - Apr - Jul Jun Jul Change

2016 2 2016 r 2016 Jul 2 Jun r May 2016 2 2016 r 2015 2016 2015 2016/2015

DURABLE GOODS

 Total: 

 Shipments................................ 232,856 232,497 231,421 0.2 0.5 -0.3 213,638 254,081 225,288 1,613,165 1,631,198 -1.1

 New Orders4

.............................. 228,904 219,241 228,827 4.4 -4.2 -2.9 208,114 241,269 222,304 1,578,375 1,592,640 -0.9

 Excluding transportation:

 Shipments................................ 152,072 151,417 151,372 0.4 0.0 -0.3 146,184 164,366 152,151 1,055,524 1,078,969 -2.2

 New Orders4

.............................. 150,043 147,853 148,237 1.5 -0.3 -0.5 142,661 159,453 147,253 1,046,016 1,061,314 -1.4

 Excluding defense:

 Shipments................................ 220,511 220,067 219,351 0.2 0.3 -0.7 202,672 240,180 213,746 1,530,202 1,550,438 -1.3

 New Orders4

.............................. 216,758 208,764 217,471 3.8 -4.0 -1.6 198,492 226,679 211,889 1,494,706 1,517,988 -1.5

 Manufacturing with unfilled orders:

 Shipments................................ 165,852 165,509 165,049 0.2 0.3 0.7 152,892 181,824 159,946 1,141,752 1,156,326 -1.3

 New Orders.............................. 165,028 155,332 165,438 6.2 -6.1 -2.9 150,922 171,625 160,391 1,128,180 1,139,826 -1.0

 Primary metals:

 Shipments................................ 18,086 17,895 17,614 1.1 1.6 -0.1 17,361 18,792 18,678 125,477 140,510 -10.7

 New Orders.............................. 17,869 17,614 17,783 1.4 -1.0 -1.3 17,071 18,389 18,341 127,507 140,564 -9.3

 Fabricated metal products:

 Shipments................................ 30,185 29,841 29,973 1.2 -0.4 -0.1 29,280 31,860 29,577 208,513 207,632 0.4

 New Orders.............................. 30,435 29,972 29,889 1.5 0.3 -0.7 29,631 31,369 29,679 212,504 208,871 1.7

 Machinery:

 Shipments................................ 29,719 29,958 30,142 -0.8 -0.6 -1.3 27,913 32,688 31,374 213,288 228,065 -6.5

 New Orders.............................. 29,867 29,400 29,313 1.6 0.3 0.2 27,909 31,321 30,396 211,275 224,091 -5.7

 Computers and electronic products4

:

 Shipments................................ 27,056 26,647 26,541 1.5 0.4 0.6 25,321 30,117 24,758 180,847 175,385 3.1

 New Orders.............................. 24,780 23,908 24,166 3.6 -1.1 -0.9 22,167 27,604 21,674 164,951 159,348 3.5

 Computers and related products:

 Shipments................................ 1,947 1,759 1,854 10.7 -5.1 -3.1 1,535 2,550 1,729 12,340 14,752 -16.4

 New Orders.............................. 1,932 1,751 1,860 10.3 -5.9 -2.5 1,520 2,542 1,694 12,281 14,862 -17.4

 Communications equipment:

 Shipments................................ 3,385 3,558 3,376 -4.9 5.4 3.3 2,979 4,332 3,000 22,840 23,096 -1.1

 New Orders.............................. 3,697 3,736 3,744 -1.0 -0.2 5.6 3,127 4,349 3,371 24,995 25,779 -3.0

 Electrical equipment, appliances, 

 and components: 

 Shipments................................ 9,563 9,459 9,434 1.1 0.3 -0.3 9,151 10,284 9,971 65,467 71,266 -8.1

 New Orders.............................. 9,702 9,452 9,388 2.6 0.7 -0.5 8,974 10,317 9,654 66,607 71,387 -6.7

 Transportation equipment: 

 Shipments................................ 80,784 81,080 80,049 -0.4 1.3 -0.4 67,454 89,715 73,137 557,641 552,229 1.0

 New Orders.............................. 78,861 71,388 80,590 10.5 -11.4 -7.1 65,453 81,816 75,051 532,359 531,326 0.2

 Motor vehicles and parts:

 Shipments................................ 54,929 55,033 53,591 -0.2 2.7 -3.5 45,360 59,201 48,533 382,836 370,276 3.4

 New Orders.............................. 54,723 54,747 53,659 0.0 2.0 -3.2 44,768 58,472 48,055 380,455 369,160 3.1

 Nondefense aircraft and parts:

 Shipments................................ 14,094 13,862 14,543 1.7 -4.7 6.8 11,953 16,843 12,082 92,663 95,109 -2.6

 New Orders.............................. 12,498 6,583 16,341 89.9 -59.7 -5.6 11,632 9,228 16,144 71,490 84,025 -14.9

 Defense aircraft and parts:

 Shipments................................ 4,013 4,153 4,298 -3.4 -3.4 20.7 3,443 4,926 4,546 28,421 31,937 -11.0

 New Orders.............................. 4,378 3,640 3,940 20.3 -7.6 -30.0 3,314 5,634 3,366 30,548 26,773 14.1

 All other durable goods: 

 Shipments................................ 37,463 37,617 37,668 -0.4 -0.1 -0.3 37,158 40,625 37,793 261,932 256,111 2.3

 New Orders.............................. 37,390 37,507 37,698 -0.3 -0.5 -0.3 36,909 40,453 37,509 263,172 257,053 2.4

 Capital goods3

:

 Shipments................................ 81,990 81,860 82,532 0.2 -0.8 1.2 74,637 91,595 80,958 562,642 587,772 -4.3

 New Orders.............................. 81,162 72,028 82,084 12.7 -12.3 -6.0 73,034 83,089 82,685 549,227 575,870 -4.6

 Nondefense capital goods:

 Shipments................................ 71,673 71,659 72,641 0.0 -1.4 1.0 65,397 80,460 71,622 494,645 523,438 -5.5

 New Orders.............................. 71,610 64,988 72,920 10.2 -10.9 -1.7 65,454 73,115 73,940 480,303 514,492 -6.6

 Excluding aircraft:

 Shipments........................... 62,319 62,600 62,921 -0.4 -0.5 -0.7 57,613 69,312 63,638 436,309 460,371 -5.2

 New Orders.......................... 63,447 62,438 62,153 1.6 0.5 -0.6 57,876 68,293 62,330 440,896 460,585 -4.3

 Defense capital goods:

 Shipments................................ 10,317 10,201 9,891 1.1 3.1 3.0 9,240 11,135 9,336 67,997 64,334 5.7

 New Orders.............................. 9,552 7,040 9,164 35.7 -23.2 -30.1 7,580 9,974 8,745 68,924 61,378 12.3

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. 
 3

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

Jul Jun May Jun - May - Apr - Jul Jun Jul 2016/

2016 2 2016 r 2016 Jul 2 Jun r May 2016 2 2016 r 2015 2015

DURABLE GOODS

 Total: 

 Unfilled Orders4......................... 1,126,550 1,127,374 1,137,551 -0.1 -0.9 0.0 1,126,128 1,128,098 1,151,069 -2.2

 Total Inventories....................... 382,968 381,784 382,258 0.3 -0.1 -0.4 386,202 379,095 396,577 -2.6

 Excluding transportation:

 Unfilled Orders4

......................... 354,349 353,250 353,735 0.3 -0.1 0.0 356,552 356,521 355,879 0.2

 Total Inventories....................... 259,300 258,630 258,082 0.3 0.2 -0.3 261,510 257,220 269,978 -3.1

 Excluding defense:

 Unfilled Orders4

........................... 953,581 954,206 962,430 -0.1 -0.9 0.1 952,205 952,831 974,049 -2.2

 Total Inventories....................... 357,128 356,694 356,577 0.1 0.0 -0.4 360,032 353,743 369,695 -2.6

 Manufacturing with unfilled orders:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 1,126,550 1,127,374 1,137,551 -0.1 -0.9 0.0 1,126,128 1,128,098 1,151,069 -2.2

 Total Inventories....................... 310,923 309,844 311,162 0.3 -0.4 -0.4 314,195 308,216 324,700 -3.2

 Primary metals:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 32,241 32,458 32,739 -0.7 -0.9 0.5 32,643 32,933 33,169 -1.6

 Total Inventories....................... 31,550 31,375 31,235 0.6 0.4 -0.1 31,698 31,005 35,733 -11.3

 Fabricated metal products:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 74,180 73,930 73,799 0.3 0.2 -0.1 75,438 75,087 75,353 0.1

 Total Inventories....................... 49,212 48,789 48,568 0.9 0.5 0.0 49,560 48,707 49,873 -0.6

 Machinery: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 93,017 92,869 93,427 0.2 -0.6 -0.9 92,943 92,947 99,743 -6.8

 Total Inventories....................... 65,286 65,613 65,400 -0.5 0.3 -0.8 65,906 65,118 69,322 -4.9

 Computers and electronic products4

:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 129,316 128,464 128,124 0.7 0.3 0.5 129,513 129,113 122,390 5.8

 Total Inventories....................... 42,478 42,691 42,714 -0.5 -0.1 -0.2 43,068 42,356 43,999 -2.1

 Computers and related products:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 2,388 2,403 2,411 -0.6 -0.3 0.2 2,388 2,403 2,390 -0.1

 Total Inventories....................... 3,554 3,582 3,573 -0.8 0.3 -0.6 3,708 3,546 4,066 -8.8

 Communications equipment:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 34,931 34,619 34,441 0.9 0.5 1.1 34,917 34,769 31,686 10.2

 Total Inventories....................... 4,554 4,601 4,690 -1.0 -1.9 0.2 4,555 4,524 5,079 -10.3

 Electrical equipment, appliances, 

 and components: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 17,418 17,279 17,286 0.8 0.0 -0.3 17,443 17,620 16,873 3.4

 Total Inventories....................... 16,297 16,165 16,289 0.8 -0.8 -0.3 16,608 16,176 17,108 -2.9

 Transportation equipment: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 772,201 774,124 783,816 -0.2 -1.2 0.1 769,576 771,577 795,190 -3.2

 Total Inventories....................... 123,668 123,154 124,176 0.4 -0.8 -0.6 124,692 121,875 126,599 -1.5

 Motor vehicles and parts:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 21,923 22,129 22,415 -0.9 -1.3 0.3 21,178 21,770 22,879 -7.4

 Total Inventories....................... 34,897 34,954 33,738 -0.2 3.6 -0.2 35,023 33,934 34,845 0.5

 Nondefense Aircraft and parts:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 592,092 593,688 600,967 -0.3 -1.2 0.3 589,463 589,784 604,815 -2.5

 Total Inventories....................... 62,077 62,357 63,833 -0.4 -2.3 -0.9 62,616 61,957 63,979 -2.1

 Defense Aircraft and parts: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 70,722 70,357 70,870 0.5 -0.7 -0.5 70,745 70,874 64,842 9.1

 Total Inventories....................... 11,519 10,742 11,131 7.2 -3.5 -2.9 11,605 10,744 11,896 -2.4

 All other durable goods: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 8,177 8,250 8,360 -0.9 -1.3 0.4 8,572 8,821 8,351 2.6

 Total Inventories....................... 54,477 53,997 53,876 0.9 0.2 0.0 54,670 53,858 53,943 1.3

 Capital goods3

:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 836,826 837,654 847,486 -0.1 -1.2 -0.1 837,461 839,064 870,708 -3.8

 Total Inventories....................... 190,202 189,692 191,485 0.3 -0.9 -0.6 192,349 189,183 199,159 -3.4

 Nondefense capital goods:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 700,820 700,883 707,554 0.0 -0.9 0.0 700,130 700,073 727,703 -3.8

 Total Inventories....................... 169,112 169,386 170,690 -0.2 -0.8 -0.7 171,015 168,617 177,144 -3.5

 Excluding aircraft: 

 Unfilled Orders.................... 221,409 220,281 220,443 0.5 -0.1 -0.3 222,273 222,010 225,993 -1.6

 Total Inventories................... 118,268 118,126 117,990 0.1 0.1 -0.5 119,620 117,431 123,821 -3.4

 Defense capital goods:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 136,006 136,771 139,932 -0.6 -2.3 -0.5 137,331 138,991 143,005 -4.0

 Total Inventories....................... 21,090 20,306 20,795 3.9 -2.4 -0.4 21,334 20,566 22,015 -3.1

See footnotes at end of Table 1 
4 

Survey Description 

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 

4,800 reporting units that represent approximately 3,000 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 61 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 54 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 

revisions made later than two months will be reflected in the annual benchmark publication. 

Additional survey documentation can be found on our web site: http://www.census.gov/m3.