This survey (also known as M3) measures current industrial activity in the US and provides an indication of future business trends.
This survey provides statistics on manufacturers' value of shipments, new orders, end-of-month orders, unfilled orders (backlog), end-of-month total inventory, material and supplies, work-in-process and finished goods inventories.
Establishments that report to the census bureau are from single-unit manufacturers to diversified large companies from 89 industry categories.
Because industry is quite an important area of the US GDP, changes in the factory orders may indicate the direction of industry in the economy, which has an important effect on the currency’s value of the country. A rise in factory orders may indicate a growth in the economic activity, which in turn leads to the appreciation of the US dollar.
Periodicity of publication
Factory orders are published every month by the Census Bureau. The publication is divided into two press releases per month.
The first one - “advance report on durable goods manufacturers’ shipments, inventories and orders”, is available about 18 days after each reference month.
The second - “manufacturers’ shipments, inventories and orders” includes durable and non-durable manufacturing, and is available about 23 working days after each reference month.