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FOR RELEASE AT 8:30 AM EST, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2020

MONTHLY ADVANCE REPORT ON DURABLE GOODS MANUFACTURERS’ SHIPMENTS, 

INVENTORIES AND ORDERS OCTOBER 2020

Release Number: CB 20-174 M3-1 (20)-10

Statement Regarding COVID-19 Impact: The Census Bureau continues to monitor response and data 

quality and has determined that estimates in this release meet publication standards. For more 

information, see < M3 COVID-19 FAQs>.

NOVEMBER 25, 2020 — The U.S. Census Bureau announces the October advance report on durable goods 

manufacturers’ shipments, inventories and orders:

New Orders

New orders for manufactured durable goods in October increased $3.0 billion or 1.3 percent to $240.8

billion, the U.S. Census Bureau announced today. This increase, up six consecutive months, followed a 2.1

percent September increase. Excluding transportation, new orders increased 1.3 percent. Excluding 

defense, new orders increased 0.2 percent. Transportation equipment, up five of the last six months, led

the increase, $0.9 billion or 1.2 percent to $77.1 billion.

DURABLE GOODS – NEW ORDERS

OCTOBER 2020 $240.8 billion +1.3%°

SEPTEMBER 2020

(revised) $237.8 billion +2.1%°

Next release: December 24, 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, November

25, 2020.

Oct-19 Nov-19 Dec-19 Jan-20 Feb-20 Mar-20 Apr-20 May-20 Jun-20 Jul-20 Aug-20 Sep-20 Oct-20

% Change -0.1% -2.6% 2.8% -0.2% 2.0% -16.7% -18.3% 15.0% 7.7% 11.8% 0.4% 2.1% 1.3%

-19.0%

-17.0%

-15.0%

-13.0%

-11.0%

-9.0%

-7.0%

-5.0%

-3.0%

-1.0%

1.0%

3.0%

5.0%

7.0%

9.0%

11.0%

13.0%

15.0%

DURABLE GOODS NEW ORDERS 2019-2020

Seasonally Adjusted, Month-To-Month Percentage Change

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

November 25, 2020.
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Shipments

Shipments of manufactured durable goods in October, up five of the last six months, increased $3.1 billion 

or 1.3 percent to $248.7 billion. This followed a 0.5 percent September increase. Fabricated metal 

products, also up five of the last six months, led the increase, $0.7 billion or 2.4 percent to $30.9 billion.

Unfilled Orders

Unfilled orders for manufactured durable goods in October, down seven of the last eight months,

decreased $2.8 billion or 0.3 percent to $1,073.2 billion. This followed a 0.2 percent September decrease. 

Transportation equipment, down eight consecutive months, drove the decrease, $4.6 billion or 0.6 percent

to $717.0 billion.

Inventories

Inventories of manufactured durable goods in October, up two consecutive months, increased $1.3 billion 

or 0.3 percent to $422.8 billion. This followed a 0.3 percent September increase. Transportation 

equipment, up twenty-five of the last twenty-six months, led the increase, $0.6 billion or 0.4 percent to 

$148.2 billion. 

Capital Goods

Nondefense new orders for capital goods in October decreased $0.2 billion or 0.2 percent to $70.5 billion. 

Shipments increased $2.6 billion or 3.7 percent to $73.2 billion. Unfilled orders decreased $2.7 billion or 

0.5 percent to $591.3 billion. Inventories increased $0.1 billion or virtually unchanged to $193.6 billion. 

Defense new orders for capital goods in October increased $2.4 billion or 23.1 percent to $12.7 billion. 

Shipments increased $0.4 billion or 3.3 percent to $12.5 billion. Unfilled orders increased $0.2 billion or 

0.1 percent to $179.7 billion. Inventories decreased $0.1 billion or 0.3 percent to $21.5 billion.

Revised September Data

Revised seasonally adjusted September figures for all manufacturing industries were: new orders, $476.0

billion (revised from $475.0 billion); shipments, $483.9 billion (revised from $482.8 billion); unfilled orders, 

$1,075.9 billion (unchanged) and total inventories, $686.2 billion (revised from $686.7 billion).

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

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

December 24, 2020 at 8:30 a.m. EST. View the full schedule in the Economic Briefing Room:

<https://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-ofmonth total inventory (at current cost or market value), and inventories by stage of fabrication 

(materials and supplies, work-in-process, 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 month-to-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-tomonth 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 60

percent of the total value of shipments for manufacturing establishments in the 2017 Economic 

Census, and these companies include roughly 61 percent of the manufacturing companies with $500 

million or more in shipments in the 2017 Economic Census. The companies for which shipments data 

are currently reported in the M3 survey represent approximately 51 percent of the total value of 

shipments for manufacturing establishments in the 2017 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 
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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: <www.census.gov/manufacturing/m3/how_the_data_are_collected/index.html>.

2021 Release Dates for the M3 Survey

Survey month Advance Report 

(8:30 a.m. release time)

Full Report 

(10:00 a.m. release time)

Nov-20 Thu 12/24/2020 Wed 1/6/2021

Dec-20 Wed 1/27/2021 Thu 2/4/2021

Jan-21 Thu 2/25/2021 Thu 3/4/2021

Feb-21 Wed 3/24/2021 Mon 4/5/2021

Mar-21 Mon 4/26/2021 Tue 5/4/2021

Apr-21 Thu 5/27/2021 Fri 6/4/2021

May-21 Thu 6/24/2021 Fri 7/2/2021

Jun-21 Tue 7/27/2021 Tue 8/3/2021

Jul-21 Wed 8/25/2021 Thu 9/2/2021

Aug-21 Mon 9/27/2021 Mon 10/4/2021

Sep-21 Wed 10/27/2021 Wed 11/3/2021

Oct-21 Wed 11/24/2021 Fri 12/3/2021

Nov-21 Thu 12/23/2021 Not available at this time

https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/pfei_schedule_release_dates_2021.pdf 

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

Oct Sep Aug Sep - Aug - Jul - Oct Sep Oct Change

2020 22020 r

2020 Oct 2

Sep r Aug 2020 22020 r

2019 2020 2019 2020/2019

DURABLE GOODS

 Total:

 Shipments................................ 248,694 245,565 244,347 1.3 0.5 -0.2 256,814 259,398 255,436 2,337,867 2,504,933 -6.7

 New Orders4.............................. 240,769 237,751 232,933 1.3 2.1 0.4 244,454 249,056 247,231 2,210,208 2,432,204 -9.1

 Excluding transportation:

 Shipments................................ 166,992 163,732 162,839 2.0 0.5 0.7 171,219 172,792 167,907 1,607,802 1,636,761 -1.8

 New Orders4.............................. 163,652 161,542 159,157 1.3 1.5 1.1 166,384 168,602 161,289 1,566,093 1,591,194 -1.6

 Excluding defense:

 Shipments................................ 234,250 231,774 230,484 1.1 0.6 -0.2 242,395 244,208 241,667 2,199,721 2,366,869 -7.1

 New Orders4.............................. 227,040 226,679 218,431 0.2 3.8 1.0 232,953 235,045 231,330 2,073,986 2,291,364 -9.5

 Manufacturing with unfilled orders:

 Shipments................................ 168,129 163,739 163,503 2.7 0.1 0.9 170,732 172,651 174,714 1,622,431 1,738,262 -6.7

 New Orders.............................. 165,378 161,210 157,125 2.6 2.6 1.9 164,195 168,276 172,301 1,544,375 1,714,228 -9.9

 Primary metals:

 Shipments................................ 18,792 18,366 18,350 2.3 0.1 1.3 19,009 18,560 19,805 186,222 203,502 -8.5

 New Orders.............................. 19,436 19,355 18,526 0.4 4.5 1.9 19,461 19,016 19,486 186,168 202,601 -8.1

 Fabricated metal products:

 Shipments................................ 30,863 30,136 30,031 2.4 0.3 -0.5 31,962 31,490 33,527 303,867 320,997 -5.3

 New Orders.............................. 31,845 31,132 30,438 2.3 2.3 -0.2 32,232 31,748 32,646 306,015 322,174 -5.0

 Machinery:

 Shipments................................ 31,406 31,019 31,146 1.2 -0.4 2.0 31,829 31,761 32,556 306,861 323,437 -5.1

 New Orders.............................. 31,581 31,770 31,570 -0.6 0.6 2.6 31,918 32,082 32,425 309,903 322,218 -3.8

 Computers and electronic products4:

 Shipments................................ 31,040 30,395 29,917 2.1 1.6 0.5 30,931 34,126 28,518 289,823 280,006 3.5

 New Orders.............................. 25,972 25,187 24,864 3.1 1.3 1.2 25,265 28,624 22,913 240,932 233,645 3.1

 Computers and related products:

 Shipments................................ 1,902 1,804 1,875 5.4 -3.8 0.8 1,815 2,038 1,588 17,622 16,381 7.6

 New Orders.............................. 1,912 1,825 1,857 4.8 -1.7 0.4 1,825 2,059 1,615 17,480 16,363 6.8

 

 Communications equipment:

 Shipments................................ 4,667 4,248 4,154 9.9 2.3 2.0 4,066 5,215 3,121 38,534 34,740 10.9

 New Orders.............................. 4,624 4,268 4,197 8.3 1.7 2.7 4,189 5,198 3,102 38,562 34,835 10.7

 Electrical equipment, appliances, 

 and components: 

 Shipments................................ 10,933 10,540 10,600 3.7 -0.6 0.0 11,243 11,407 11,150 106,839 109,627 -2.5

 New Orders.............................. 10,884 10,781 10,868 1.0 -0.8 0.3 11,251 11,572 11,407 108,243 110,795 -2.3

 Transportation equipment: 

 Shipments................................ 81,702 81,833 81,508 -0.2 0.4 -1.9 85,595 86,606 87,529 730,065 868,172 -15.9

 New Orders.............................. 77,117 76,209 73,776 1.2 3.3 -0.9 78,070 80,454 85,942 644,115 841,010 -23.4

 Motor vehicles and parts:

 Shipments................................ 60,119 62,052 61,290 -3.1 1.2 -4.5 64,530 64,859 62,899 522,427 609,549 -14.3

 New Orders.............................. 60,109 62,105 61,432 -3.2 1.1 -4.1 63,955 65,039 62,077 521,955 607,093 -14.0

 

 Nondefense aircraft and parts5:

 Shipments................................ 6,313 5,110 5,271 23.5 -3.1 33.5 5,680 5,757 9,422 59,131 110,890 -46.7

 New Orders.............................. 2,645 1,905 -3,248 38.8 (NA) (NA) 1,615 565 6,884 -25,154 86,295 -129.1

 Defense aircraft and parts:

 Shipments................................ 4,201 3,742 4,095 12.3 -8.6 -4.2 4,172 4,235 4,476 40,336 46,042 -12.4

 New Orders.............................. 2,957 1,651 3,979 79.1 -58.5 -13.8 2,009 2,716 7,188 34,293 48,917 -29.9

 All other durable goods: 

 Shipments................................ 43,958 43,276 42,795 1.6 1.1 0.6 46,245 45,448 42,351 414,190 399,192 3.8

 New Orders.............................. 43,934 43,317 42,891 1.4 1.0 0.7 46,257 45,560 42,412 414,832 399,761 3.8

 Capital goods3:

 Shipments................................ 85,741 82,744 82,340 3.6 0.5 2.7 85,573 89,148 84,437 808,578 853,341 -5.2

 New Orders.............................. 83,218 81,001 76,601 2.7 5.7 5.5 81,193 85,690 83,806 736,795 831,417 -11.4

 Nondefense capital goods:

 Shipments................................ 73,212 70,614 70,170 3.7 0.6 3.3 72,988 75,902 72,365 687,606 733,381 -6.2

 New Orders.............................. 70,473 70,644 63,333 -0.2 11.5 8.3 70,388 73,157 70,138 612,487 709,609 -13.7

 Excluding aircraft:

 Shipments........................... 69,380 67,800 67,308 2.3 0.7 1.6 69,700 72,530 66,748 655,034 661,413 -1.0

 New Orders.......................... 70,025 69,510 68,184 0.7 1.9 2.4 70,369 73,722 66,694 662,496 661,265 0.2

 Defense capital goods:

 Shipments................................ 12,529 12,130 12,170 3.3 -0.3 -0.6 12,585 13,246 12,072 120,972 119,960 0.8

 New Orders.............................. 12,745 10,357 13,268 23.1 -21.9 -6.0 10,805 12,533 13,668 124,308 121,808 2.1

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. 

5

 (NA) - New Orders month-to-month percent change is not provided for Nondefense aircraft and parts because the denominator has a negative value. 

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories, and Orders (M3) Survey, October Advance Report, November 25, 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

Oct Sep Aug Sep - Aug - Jul - Oct Sep Oct 2020/

2020 2 2020 r 2020 Oct 2Sep r Aug 2020 2 2020

 r

2019 2019

DURABLE GOODS

 Total:

 Unfilled Orders4......................... 1,073,151 1,075,902 1,078,431 -0.3 -0.2 -0.6 1,064,086 1,070,623 1,140,226 -6.7

 Total Inventories....................... 422,751 421,494 420,373 0.3 0.3 -0.1 423,120 421,554 421,189 0.5

 Excluding transportation:

 Unfilled Orders4......................... 356,191 354,357 351,262 0.5 0.9 0.4 353,019 352,031 347,142 1.7

 Total Inventories....................... 274,596 273,978 273,504 0.2 0.2 -0.5 273,507 273,156 281,710 -2.9

 Excluding defense:

 Unfilled Orders4........................... 855,023 857,059 856,869 -0.2 0.0 -0.8 849,162 852,781 930,943 -8.8

 Total Inventories....................... 397,096 395,767 394,888 0.3 0.2 -0.2 397,520 395,802 395,718 0.5

 Manufacturing with unfilled orders:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 1,073,151 1,075,902 1,078,431 -0.3 -0.2 -0.6 1,064,086 1,070,623 1,140,226 -6.7

 Total Inventories....................... 345,115 344,685 343,267 0.1 0.4 -0.1 345,508 344,964 342,208 1.0

 Primary metals:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 32,463 31,819 30,830 2.0 3.2 0.6 31,405 30,953 30,035 4.6

 Total Inventories....................... 33,592 33,539 33,120 0.2 1.3 -0.6 33,255 33,380 35,107 -5.3

 Fabricated metal products:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 75,381 74,399 73,403 1.3 1.4 0.6 74,598 74,328 74,093 0.7

 Total Inventories....................... 51,403 51,088 51,174 0.6 -0.2 -0.5 51,010 51,019 53,345 -4.4

 Machinery: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 98,587 98,412 97,661 0.2 0.8 0.4 97,770 97,681 95,843 2.0

 Total Inventories....................... 68,839 68,913 68,916 -0.1 0.0 -0.8 68,678 69,280 72,143 -4.8

 Computers and electronic products4:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 118,814 118,708 118,631 0.1 0.1 0.0 118,454 118,297 117,957 0.4

 Total Inventories....................... 43,602 43,533 43,598 0.2 -0.1 -0.9 43,766 43,311 43,942 -0.4

 Computers and related products:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 1,866 1,856 1,835 0.5 1.1 -1.0 1,866 1,856 1,973 -5.4

 Total Inventories....................... 3,914 3,861 3,865 1.4 -0.1 0.3 3,940 3,922 3,823 3.1

 

 Communications equipment:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 25,586 25,629 25,609 -0.2 0.1 0.2 25,617 25,494 25,533 0.3

 Total Inventories....................... 5,291 5,325 5,263 -0.6 1.2 0.3 5,350 5,274 5,249 1.9

 Electrical equipment, appliances, 

 and components: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 22,319 22,368 22,127 -0.2 1.1 1.2 22,187 22,179 20,974 5.8

 Total Inventories....................... 19,680 19,720 19,696 -0.2 0.1 -0.3 19,566 19,400 19,833 -1.3

 Transportation equipment: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 716,960 721,545 727,169 -0.6 -0.8 -1.1 711,067 718,592 793,084 -10.3

 Total Inventories....................... 148,155 147,516 146,869 0.4 0.4 0.6 149,613 148,398 139,479 7.3

 Motor vehicles and parts:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 21,206 21,216 21,163 0.0 0.3 0.7 20,276 20,851 19,447 4.3

 Total Inventories....................... 39,135 38,678 39,031 1.2 -0.9 -0.3 39,432 38,915 40,400 -2.4

 

 Nondefense Aircraft and parts:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 477,606 481,274 484,479 -0.8 -0.7 -1.7 475,689 479,754 565,709 -15.9

 Total Inventories....................... 79,151 79,070 78,381 0.1 0.9 0.8 80,161 79,566 70,152 14.3

 Defense Aircraft and parts: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 80,627 81,871 83,962 -1.5 -2.5 -0.1 78,994 81,157 83,053 -4.9

 Total Inventories....................... 12,451 12,437 12,431 0.1 0.0 0.8 12,467 12,418 12,160 2.5

 All other durable goods: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 8,627 8,651 8,610 -0.3 0.5 1.1 8,605 8,593 8,240 4.4

 Total Inventories....................... 57,480 57,185 57,000 0.5 0.3 0.0 57,232 56,766 57,340 -0.2

 Capital goods3:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 771,035 773,558 775,301 -0.3 -0.2 -0.7 766,490 770,870 844,094 -9.2

 Total Inventories....................... 215,062 215,032 214,291 0.0 0.3 0.2 216,365 215,623 208,653 3.7

 Nondefense capital goods:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 591,326 594,065 594,035 -0.5 0.0 -1.1 589,545 592,145 676,526 -12.9

 Total Inventories....................... 193,609 193,521 193,031 0.0 0.3 0.1 194,983 194,068 187,363 4.1

 Excluding aircraft: 

 Unfilled Orders.................... 220,671 220,026 218,316 0.3 0.8 0.4 219,596 218,927 213,267 3.0

 Total Inventories................... 127,097 127,136 127,349 0.0 -0.2 -0.3 127,263 127,222 128,853 -1.2

 Defense capital goods:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 179,709 179,493 181,266 0.1 -1.0 0.6 176,945 178,725 167,568 5.6

 Total Inventories....................... 21,453 21,511 21,260 -0.3 1.2 0.9 21,382 21,555 21,290 0.4

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, October Advance Report, November 25, 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>.