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FOR RELEASE AT 8:30 AM EST, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2017

MONTHLY ADVANCE REPORT ON MANUFACTURERS’ SHIPMENTS, 

INVENTORIES AND ORDERS JANUARY 2017

Release Number: CB 17-25 M3-1 (17)-01

February 27, 2017 — The U.S. Census Bureau announces the January advance report on manufacturers’ 

shipments, inventories and orders:

New Orders

New orders for manufactured durable goods in January increased $4.0 billion or 1.8 percent to $230.4

billion, the U.S. Census Bureau announced today. This increase, up following two consecutive monthly 

decreases, followed a 0.8 percent December decrease. Excluding transportation, new orders decreased 0.2

percent. Excluding defense, new orders increased 1.5 percent. Transportation equipment, also up following 

two consecutive monthly decreases, drove the increase, $4.3 billion or 6.0 percent to $76.4 billion.

Shipments

Shipments of manufactured durable goods in January, down following two consecutive monthly increases, 

decreased $0.2 billion or 0.1 percent to $238.3 billion. This followed a 1.6 percent December increase. 

Machinery, also down following two consecutive monthly increases, drove the decrease, $0.5 billion or 1.6 

percent to $30.7 billion.

Unfilled Orders

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

$4.0 billion or 0.4 percent to $1,114.3 billion. This followed a 0.7 percent December decrease.

Transportation equipment, also down seven of the last eight months, drove the decrease, $5.6 billion or 0.7

percent to $752.9 billion.

DURABLE GOODS – NEW ORDERS

JANUARY 2017 $230.4 billion +1.8%°

DECEMBER 2016 

(revised) $226.3 billion -0.8%°

Next release: March 24, 2017

Data adjusted for seasonal variation but not for price changes.

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

°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.

Feb-16 Mar-16 Apr-16 May-16 Jun-16 Jul-16 Aug-16 Sep-16 Oct-16 Nov-16 Dec-16 Jan-17 % Change -3.3% 2.0% 3.2% -2.9% -4.3% 3.6% 0.2% 0.3% 5.0% -4.7% -0.8% 1.8%

-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%

DURABLE GOODS NEW ORDERS 2016-2017

Seasonally Adjusted, Month-To-Month Percentage Change

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

Inventories of manufactured durable goods in January, up two of the last three months, increased $0.1 

billion or virtually unchanged to $383.8 billion. This followed a 0.1 percent December decrease. 

Computers and electronic products, up three of the last four months, drove the increase, $0.2 billion or 0.5 

percent to $42.7 billion.

Capital Goods

Nondefense new orders for capital goods in January increased $2.4 billion or 3.6 percent to $69.0 billion. 

Shipments decreased $0.3 billion or 0.4 percent to $71.9 billion. Unfilled orders decreased $2.9 billion or 

0.4 percent to $688.7 billion. Inventories decreased $0.3 billion or 0.2 percent to $170.4 billion. Defense 

new orders for capital goods in January increased $0.8 billion or 8.0 percent to $10.4 billion. Shipments 

increased less than $0.1 billion or 0.2 percent to $11.0 billion. Unfilled orders decreased $0.6 billion or 0.4 

percent to $140.3 billion. Inventories increased $0.3 billion or 1.6 percent to $21.1 billion.

Revised December Data

Revised seasonally adjusted December figures for all manufacturing industries were: new orders, $464.6 

billion (revised from $464.9 billion); shipments, $476.8 billion (revised from $475.8 billion); unfilled 

orders, $1,118.3 billion (revised from $1,119.5 billion) and total inventories, $625.7 billion (revised from 

$625.6 billion).

Revised and more detailed estimates, plus nondurable goods data, will be published on March 6, 2017, at 

10:00 a.m. EST. The Advance Report on durable goods for February is scheduled for release on March 24,

2017 at 8:30 a.m. EDT. 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>.

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.

With the release of the January 2017 Advance Report on Durable Goods Manufacturers’ Shipments, 

Inventories and Orders on February 27, 2017, the presentation of the release has changed. The text portion 

of the release has been removed from Excel and reformatted. The layout and format of the tables have not 

changed, though some explanatory notes may have moved to the text portion of the document. The full text 

and tables are available as a PDF, with the tables available separately in Excel.
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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-in-process, 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 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-tomonth changes of the total operations of the reporting units in the M3 panel effectively represent the monthto-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: 

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

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

issued on May 18, 2017. These revisions result from:

 benchmarking the M3 shipments and inventories data to the 2015 Annual Survey of 

Manufactures (ASM) and revised 2014 ASM data on a 2012 NAICS basis;

 incorporating the unfilled orders to shipments ratios obtained from the 2015/2014 

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

ASM shipments data, as well as incorporating revised unfilled orders to shipments ratios for 

prior years by applying them to the respective ASM 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 February 2002 through March 2017 and the data 

not seasonally adjusted for February 2007 through March 2017. An updated Press Release will contain 

revised monthly tables for February 2017 through March 2017. Please call M3 staff on (301) 763-4832 with 

any questions.

America’s Economy Mobile App

The America’s Economy app provides real-time updates for 19 key economic indicators released from the 

Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Bureau of Economic Analysis.

<www.census.gov/mobile/economy/>

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/>

-X-
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

Jan Dec Nov Dec - Nov - Oct - Jan Dec Jan Change

2017 2 2016 r 2016 Jan 2 Dec r Nov 2017 2 2016 r 2016 2017 2016 2017/2016

DURABLE GOODS

 Total: 

 Shipments................................ 238,347 238,564 234,824 -0.1 1.6 0.4 211,884 236,445 204,524 211,884 204,524 3.6

 New Orders4

.............................. 230,354 226,318 228,192 1.8 -0.8 -4.7 208,160 236,816 205,265 208,160 205,265 1.4

 Excluding transportation:

 Shipments................................ 156,381 156,463 154,580 -0.1 1.2 0.8 141,743 154,778 135,446 141,743 135,446 4.6

 New Orders4

.............................. 153,946 154,258 152,838 -0.2 0.9 1.1 143,244 151,163 137,329 143,244 137,329 4.3

 Excluding defense:

 Shipments................................ 225,358 225,443 221,697 0.0 1.7 0.1 201,537 221,520 194,970 201,537 194,970 3.4

 New Orders4

.............................. 217,659 214,538 211,899 1.5 1.2 -6.7 197,328 219,830 195,258 197,328 195,258 1.1

 Manufacturing with unfilled orders:

 Shipments................................ 169,424 169,452 166,877 0.0 1.5 0.4 150,055 170,934 143,545 150,055 143,545 4.5

 New Orders.............................. 165,410 161,129 164,099 2.7 -1.8 -6.4 151,130 174,898 148,059 151,130 148,059 2.1

 Primary metals:

 Shipments................................ 18,630 18,478 18,224 0.8 1.4 2.7 18,167 16,811 17,002 18,167 17,002 6.9

 New Orders.............................. 18,297 18,598 18,754 -1.6 -0.8 3.1 18,861 17,394 18,277 18,861 18,277 3.2

 Fabricated metal products:

 Shipments................................ 31,265 30,949 30,837 1.0 0.4 1.3 28,976 28,700 27,160 28,976 27,160 6.7

 New Orders.............................. 31,573 30,994 31,199 1.9 -0.7 0.7 30,212 28,020 28,166 30,212 28,166 7.3

 Machinery:

 Shipments................................ 30,653 31,136 30,317 -1.6 2.7 1.2 27,089 32,132 26,700 27,089 26,700 1.5

 New Orders.............................. 31,389 31,244 30,717 0.5 1.7 2.5 29,760 31,116 28,546 29,760 28,546 4.3

 Computers and electronic products4

:

 Shipments................................ 28,137 28,006 27,770 0.5 0.8 0.9 25,038 31,275 23,097 25,038 23,097 8.4

 New Orders.............................. 24,746 25,139 24,365 -1.6 3.2 1.0 21,094 29,093 20,132 21,094 20,132 4.8

 Computers and related products:

 Shipments................................ 1,781 1,700 1,767 4.8 -3.8 -2.4 1,332 2,499 1,445 1,332 1,445 -7.8

 New Orders.............................. 1,777 1,711 1,780 3.9 -3.9 -1.8 1,328 2,510 1,413 1,328 1,413 -6.0

 Communications equipment:

 Shipments................................ 3,491 3,565 3,490 -2.1 2.1 4.2 2,722 4,438 2,555 2,722 2,555 6.5

 New Orders.............................. 3,759 3,956 3,768 -5.0 5.0 8.0 2,998 4,812 2,957 2,998 2,957 1.4

 Electrical equipment, appliances, 

 and components: 

 Shipments................................ 9,660 9,643 9,506 0.2 1.4 -1.3 8,648 9,584 8,473 8,648 8,473 2.1

 New Orders.............................. 9,738 9,960 9,913 -2.2 0.5 1.4 9,265 9,924 9,125 9,265 9,125 1.5

 Transportation equipment: 

 Shipments................................ 81,966 82,101 80,244 -0.2 2.3 -0.4 70,141 81,667 69,078 70,141 69,078 1.5

 New Orders.............................. 76,408 72,060 75,354 6.0 -4.4 -14.7 64,916 85,653 67,936 64,916 67,936 -4.4

 Motor vehicles and parts:

 Shipments................................ 56,743 56,680 55,531 0.1 2.1 0.5 50,813 51,524 48,938 50,813 48,938 3.8

 New Orders.............................. 56,797 56,659 55,646 0.2 1.8 1.3 51,041 52,042 48,571 51,041 48,571 5.1

 Nondefense aircraft and parts:

 Shipments................................ 13,047 13,000 12,271 0.4 5.9 -9.0 9,834 16,503 10,602 9,834 10,602 -7.2

 New Orders.............................. 7,978 4,695 4,295 69.9 9.3 -80.4 4,164 18,723 10,159 4,164 10,159 -59.0

 Defense aircraft and parts:

 Shipments................................ 4,045 4,192 4,174 -3.5 0.4 6.2 2,948 5,128 3,373 2,948 3,373 -12.6

 New Orders.............................. 4,234 2,648 7,611 59.9 -65.2 99.1 3,886 5,296 4,210 3,886 4,210 -7.7

 All other durable goods: 

 Shipments................................ 38,036 38,251 37,926 -0.6 0.9 -0.5 33,825 36,276 33,014 33,825 33,014 2.5

 New Orders.............................. 38,203 38,323 37,890 -0.3 1.1 -0.7 34,052 35,616 33,083 34,052 33,083 2.9

 Capital goods3

:

 Shipments................................ 82,868 83,105 81,536 -0.3 1.9 -0.4 70,363 92,194 69,215 70,363 69,215 1.7

 New Orders.............................. 79,418 76,252 78,597 4.2 -3.0 -13.9 69,043 95,732 71,620 69,043 71,620 -3.6

 Nondefense capital goods:

 Shipments................................ 71,903 72,167 70,515 -0.4 2.3 -0.9 61,550 80,081 61,515 61,550 61,515 0.1

 New Orders.............................. 69,044 66,646 64,293 3.6 3.7 -19.8 60,158 81,998 63,097 60,158 63,097 -4.7

 Excluding aircraft:

 Shipments........................... 63,442 63,825 62,807 -0.6 1.6 0.7 56,130 68,516 55,577 56,130 55,577 1.0

 New Orders.......................... 64,573 64,810 64,133 -0.4 1.1 1.7 59,738 67,827 58,247 59,738 58,247 2.6

 Defense capital goods:

 Shipments................................ 10,965 10,938 11,021 0.2 -0.8 3.3 8,813 12,113 7,700 8,813 7,700 14.5

 New Orders.............................. 10,374 9,606 14,304 8.0 -32.8 29.4 8,885 13,734 8,523 8,885 8,523 4.2

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, January Advance Report, February 27, 2017. 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

Jan Dec Nov Dec - Nov - Oct - Jan Dec Jan 2017/

2017 2 2016 r 2016 Jan 2 Dec r Nov 2017 2 2016 r 2016 2016

DURABLE GOODS

 Total: 

 Unfilled Orders4......................... 1,114,307 1,118,321 1,126,644 -0.4 -0.7 -0.2 1,121,334 1,120,259 1,144,214 -2.0

 Total Inventories....................... 383,800 383,742 384,178 0.0 -0.1 0.2 383,291 373,633 386,233 -0.8

 Excluding transportation:

 Unfilled Orders4

......................... 361,417 359,873 358,155 0.4 0.5 0.6 358,596 352,296 350,498 2.3

 Total Inventories....................... 261,156 260,451 260,194 0.3 0.1 0.2 260,931 253,818 260,784 0.1

 Excluding defense:

 Unfilled Orders4

........................... 938,544 942,264 949,246 -0.4 -0.7 -0.6 944,497 943,907 970,544 -2.7

 Total Inventories....................... 358,405 358,439 358,657 0.0 -0.1 0.3 358,068 348,574 360,118 -0.6

 Manufacturing with unfilled orders:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 1,114,307 1,118,321 1,126,644 -0.4 -0.7 -0.2 1,121,334 1,120,259 1,144,214 -2.0

 Total Inventories....................... 311,473 311,306 311,865 0.1 -0.2 0.2 310,423 302,836 313,424 -1.0

 Primary metals:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 33,451 33,784 33,664 -1.0 0.4 1.6 33,915 33,221 31,888 6.4

 Total Inventories....................... 31,718 31,632 31,656 0.3 -0.1 0.3 32,110 31,470 32,832 -2.2

 Fabricated metal products:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 75,399 75,091 75,046 0.4 0.1 0.5 73,654 72,418 72,453 1.7

 Total Inventories....................... 48,751 48,662 48,698 0.2 -0.1 -0.4 48,783 47,807 48,952 -0.3

 Machinery: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 93,629 92,893 92,785 0.8 0.1 0.4 93,641 90,970 96,802 -3.3

 Total Inventories....................... 66,190 66,276 65,996 -0.1 0.4 0.9 65,861 63,846 66,563 -1.1

 Computers and electronic products4

:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 131,581 130,993 129,937 0.4 0.8 0.3 130,700 129,845 124,999 4.6

 Total Inventories....................... 42,709 42,480 42,550 0.5 -0.2 0.1 42,256 40,978 41,922 0.8

 Computers and related products:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 2,443 2,447 2,436 -0.2 0.5 0.5 2,443 2,447 2,415 1.2

 Total Inventories....................... 3,869 3,936 3,648 -1.7 7.9 2.7 3,799 3,623 3,566 6.5

 Communications equipment:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 36,128 35,860 35,469 0.7 1.1 0.8 35,657 35,381 33,164 7.5

 Total Inventories....................... 4,378 4,287 4,459 2.1 -3.9 -0.4 4,375 4,154 4,730 -7.5

 Electrical equipment, appliances, 

 and components: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 18,669 18,591 18,274 0.4 1.7 2.3 18,715 18,098 16,955 10.4

 Total Inventories....................... 16,341 16,258 16,217 0.5 0.3 -0.1 16,258 15,573 16,243 0.1

 Transportation equipment: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 752,890 758,448 768,489 -0.7 -1.3 -0.6 762,738 767,963 793,716 -3.9

 Total Inventories....................... 122,644 123,291 123,984 -0.5 -0.6 0.2 122,360 119,815 125,449 -2.5

 Motor vehicles and parts:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 21,619 21,565 21,586 0.3 -0.1 0.5 22,159 21,931 23,192 -4.5

 Total Inventories....................... 34,004 34,565 34,850 -1.6 -0.8 1.0 34,318 33,363 35,136 -2.3

 Nondefense Aircraft and parts:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 570,940 576,009 584,314 -0.9 -1.4 -1.3 578,815 584,485 610,193 -5.1

 Total Inventories....................... 62,171 62,430 62,811 -0.4 -0.6 0.3 61,784 60,522 63,436 -2.6

 Defense Aircraft and parts: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 72,143 71,954 73,498 0.3 -2.1 4.9 73,463 72,525 69,455 5.8

 Total Inventories....................... 11,269 11,007 11,140 2.4 -1.2 -0.7 11,223 10,854 11,943 -6.0

 All other durable goods: 

 Unfilled Orders......................... 8,688 8,521 8,449 2.0 0.9 -0.4 7,971 7,744 7,401 7.7

 Total Inventories....................... 55,447 55,143 55,077 0.6 0.1 0.1 55,663 54,144 54,272 2.6

 Capital goods3

:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 828,973 832,423 839,276 -0.4 -0.8 -0.3 834,003 835,323 853,281 -2.3

 Total Inventories....................... 191,485 191,492 191,314 0.0 0.1 0.3 189,869 185,398 191,953 -1.1

 Nondefense capital goods:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 688,701 691,560 697,081 -0.4 -0.8 -0.9 693,507 694,899 716,054 -3.1

 Total Inventories....................... 170,403 170,748 170,450 -0.2 0.2 0.5 168,913 164,745 170,769 -1.1

 Excluding aircraft: 

 Unfilled Orders.................... 226,599 225,468 224,483 0.5 0.4 0.6 224,616 221,008 220,356 1.9

 Total Inventories................... 119,559 119,378 118,803 0.2 0.5 0.5 118,480 115,226 118,294 0.2

 Defense capital goods:

 Unfilled Orders......................... 140,272 140,863 142,195 -0.4 -0.9 2.4 140,496 140,424 137,227 2.4

 Total Inventories....................... 21,082 20,744 20,864 1.6 -0.6 -1.2 20,956 20,653 21,184 -1.1

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. 

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories, and Orders (M3) Survey, January Advance Report, February 27, 2017. 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>.