Factory Orders ex Transportation

Factory Orders ex Transportation measures the monthly change in new orders received by U.S. manufacturers after removing transportation equipment. It is part of the U.S. Census Bureau's Manufacturers' Shipments, Inventories, and Orders survey, which covers shipments, new orders, unfilled orders and inventories across manufacturing industries. Excluding transportation reduces the influence of volatile aircraft, motor vehicle and other transportation orders, making the series a cleaner read on underlying manufacturing demand. The figures are reported in current dollars and are subject to revision.

The series helps traders judge U.S. manufacturing demand without the large swings that transportation orders can create, feeding expectations for growth, business investment, Treasury yields and the USD.

USD

Can influence the dollar through changes in U.S. growth expectations and relative-rate pricing.

U.S. Treasuries

Stronger or weaker order momentum can affect growth assumptions and Treasury yield expectations.

U.S. equities

Manufacturing and industrial shares may react to evidence of stronger or weaker order pipelines.

Moderate. The data are nominal rather than inflation-adjusted, can be revised, and exclude some areas such as semiconductor new orders in the Census tables, so they should not be treated as a complete real-volume measure of manufacturing activity.

• Review revisions to prior months because they can change the trend more than the latest headline surprise.
• Compare the ex-transportation result with total factory orders to see whether transportation drove the headline move.
• Use durable goods, core capital goods orders and ISM manufacturing indicators as companion signals.
• Remember that the figures are current-dollar values, so price changes can affect the reported level.

Educational guidance only — never a trading signal or recommendation.