New orders for U.S. factory goods fell by 1.3% in May 2026 to $657.4 billion, according to the latest report released this morning by the U.S. Census Bureau.
The headline decline snapped a four-month streak of growth. However, the drop was heavily isolated to aerospace volatility and proved better than the consensus Wall Street forecast, which anticipated a deeper 1.8% to 2.0% pullback. Additionally, April’s massive surge was upwardly revised from 4.8% to a 5.3% gain.
May Factory Orders Key Metrics
- Headline Factory Orders: -1.3% month-over-month (dropping to $657.4 billion from $665.9 billion).
- Excluding Transportation: +1.9% MoM, showing that underlying industrial and manufacturing demand remains highly robust.
- Durable Goods Orders: -4.5% MoM, entirely dragged down by a 14.0% plunge in transportation equipment.
- Nondurable Goods Orders: +2.2% MoM to $311.5 billion.
- Year-Over-Year Growth: +5.1% compared to May 2025, tracking a total of $3.16 trillion year-to-date.
Core Drivers & Segment Performance
The headline drop masks strong structural resilience in the industrial sector, heavily insulated by the broader commercial artificial intelligence infrastructure buildout:
- The Commercial Aircraft Drag: The main drag stemmed from a massive 51.8% plunge in nondefense aircraft and parts. Boeing reported receiving just 27 commercial aircraft orders in May, down sharply from 136 bookings in April.
- AI & Electronics Surge: Orders for computers and electronic products gained 0.2% in May, representing an aggressive 13.0% increase year-over-year.
- Heavy Machinery Breakout: Machinery orders surged +2.1% MoM. Primary metals and fabricated metal products also clocked significant baseline growth.
- Business Investment Rebound: Non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft (core capital goods)—a critical baseline proxy for structural corporate equipment spending—rebounded +1.4%.
Updated Pre-Holiday Financial Dashboard
Equity desks continue to digest this better-than-feared industrial data alongside the morning's cooling payroll numbers as trading moves into the final stretch:
- Bitcoin (BTC-USD): $61,295.50 (+2.22%), maintaining its firm post-payroll breakout floor.
- S&P 500 (.INX): 7,461.34 (-0.29%), stabilizing from late-afternoon profit-taking.
- Strive (ASST): $13.42 (+11.6%), retaining maximum retail volume strength.
If you want, I can break down more details from the manufacturing data. Would you like me to:
- Show unfilled orders and inventory ratios trends
- Compare this to yesterday's ISM Manufacturing PMI data
- Detail transportation vs. ex-transportation growth metrics
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