Factory Orders Rise, Under Expectations

The report on U.S. factory orders from November is showing another month of gains, but at lower than expected readings.  November’s gain was +1.8% against a Dow Jones consensus reading of +2.1%.  If you exclude defense orders, the reading was +1.8%.  If you exclude transportation, the reading was down to +0.3%.

The reading from October was also revised to -0.2% from -0.4%.

The Commerce Department report this morning features data from November and it should indicate some added growth that coincides with a positive reading on Institute for Supply Management data (ISM) in Manufacturing that was released yesterday.  Now the market will just have to wait for Friday’s non-farm payrolls and unemployment data.