U.S. factory orders fell into negative territory for the first time since October 2020, delivering a fresh sign that America’s manufacturing sector is suffering a slowdown.
The U.S. Census Bureau announced on Wednesday that orders for U.S. manufactured goods declined by 1.0 percent in year-over-year terms in May, the first time in 31 months that the gauge has dipped below zero.
“The closer we get to the 2024 presidential election, the more the economy is slip slidin’ away,” wrote economist Anthony Sanders, former director of MBS/ABS Research at Deutsche Bank, in a blog post commenting on the numbers.
(Source: U.S. Census Bureau via FRED; U.S. factory orders, year-over-year data, as of July 5, 2023)
In month-over-month terms, factory orders experienced a modest increase of 0.3 percent in May. While the reading marks the fifth month-over-month gain within the last six months, it was well below market forecasts of 0.8 percent growth….