US factory orders advance in June

But the gains weren’t robust enough to suggest that the sluggish manufacturing sector is mounting a significant turnaround.

Excluding transportation, which can be volatile, June orders rose a modest 0.5%.

The Commerce Department said on Tuesday new orders for misspelling elevated one-.eight % following a adjusted one.1% abate in May. With oil prices continuing to fall and the dollar continuing to strengthen, Factory Orders may continue to languish.The dollar eased from multi-year highs in June, likely spurring foreign demand for U.S.-made equipment.

Meanwhile, a key category that serves as a proxy for business investment plans edged up 0.7 percent after declines in April and June.

“It also highlights the probability that an unwinding of this stockpiling will nearly assuredly result in a drag on GDP growth in the second half of the year”, Tim Quinlin, an economist at Wells Fargo Securities in Charlotte, North Carolina. The lower oil prices have led energy companies to scale back their investment plans.

Manufacturing inventories increased a solid 0.6 percent, which was more than the government assumed in its second-quarter GDP snapshot published last week. The rebound was powered by consumer spending.

What stands out about this Census Bureau report is that the 1.8% increase translates in real dollars to a gain of $8.7 billion up to $478.5 billion. The figure for durable goods measures orders for items meant to last at least 3 years, big-ticket things like appliances and jet engines.