New orders placed with US manufacturers rose in December, the second increase in the last three months, a sign that factories are emerging from a one-and-a-half year slump.
The 1.2 percent increase in orders to US$322.2 billion in December followed a revised 4.3 percent decrease in November, the Commerce Department said. Excluding transportation equipment, orders rose 0.8 percent for the month after a 0.9 percent decrease.
The largest-ever quarterly inventory reduction may open the door for factories to turn out more goods. Harley-Davidson Inc, the largest US motorcycle manufacturer, and computer-maker Hewlett-Packard Co are among companies forecasting improved sales and profits.
"We are near the bottom if not at the bottom" for manufacturing, said Steven Ricchiutto, chief economist at ABN Amro Inc in New York, before the report. Inventories are "down to levels that you can't cut anymore, so you are going to have a natural bounce" in production.
Still, for all of last year, orders placed with the nation's factories fell 8.5 percent, the worst performance since the government started keeping comparable records in 1992. In 2000, orders rose 7.1 percent.
Analysts had expected factory orders to rise 1.2 percent in December to US$325.6 billion after November's originally-reported decrease of 3.3 percent, based on the median of 43 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey.
The factory index of the Institute for Supply Management, one of the most closely watched barometers for manufacturing, improved to 49.9 last month, the highest since an industry contraction started in August 2000, the organization reported Friday. Production and orders showed growth for the second month in a row, the first time that's happened since mid-2000.
Today's report showed December's increase in orders was led by a 1.7 percent gain in bookings for durable goods, which account for about half of all factory orders.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS