Factory Orders Drop Most In 5 Months, Inventories Rise Fastest Since June

Factory Orders dropped 1.5% in December - their biggest fall since July - but modestly beat weak expectations. This drop despite the fact that inventories of manufactured durable goods in December, up eight of the last nine months, increased $3.2 billion or 0.8 percent to $387.9 billion to the highest level since the series was first published. This is the fastest year-over-year inventory build in 6 months - and fastest month-over-month build in 15 months.

*U.S. DEC. DURABLES ORDERS DROP 4.2%; NON-DURABLES RISE 1.1%

*DECEMBER FACTORY INVENTORY-TO-SALES RATIO RISES TO 1.29 MONTHS

Biggest drop in factory orders in 5 months...

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