In April, orders from American factories decreased after a rise in March, when businesses began making purchases in anticipation of tariffs.
According to Census Bureau data released on Tuesday, new orders for US manufactured goods decreased by 3.7 percent each month, which is worse than economists had anticipated.
A 3.1 percent decline was anticipated by Reuters news agency polled economists. Dow Jones predicted a decline of 3.3 percent. Factory orders increased by 2 percent annually, though.
The increase in April’s report is in stark contrast to the increase of 3.4% in March, which had the highest increase for five consecutive months.
President Donald Trump’s aggressive tariffs have put pressure on manufacturing, which accounts for 10.2% of the US economy. Trump sees the tariffs as a way to raise money to make up for his previously announced tax cuts and to revive a long-declining industrial base, which economists claimed was impossible in the short term due to labor shortages and other structural issues.
hardest-hit areas
Orders in the transportation sector decreased by 17.1%, primarily due to the decline in commercial aircraft. In April, aircraft orders decreased by 51.5%. Orders for parts for cars, trucks, and trailers decreased by 0.7%.
Manufacturing of electrical equipment, appliances, and components decreased by 0.3%. However, the percentage of manufacturing computers and other electronic goods increased.
Orders for machinery increased by 0.6%. Orders decreased 0.5%, matching March’s decline in non-transportation goods, excluding transportation, which was the source of the increase in March orders.
Additionally, according to the government, orders for non-defense capital goods, excluding aircraft, decreased by 1.5% in April from the government’s estimate of 1.3% last month, compared to orders that were expected to decline.
Shipments of these so-called “core capital goods” decreased by $ 1.8 billion, or a wholly unreported 0.1%.
Source: Aljazeera
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