Report ·
Orders, shipments, backlog and inventory answer different operating questions
The U.S. Census Bureau's 3 November full M3 report estimated September 2026 seasonally adjusted new manufacturing orders at $677.247 billion, up 1.8% from revised August. Orders excluding transportation were $557.359 billion, up 1.3%. Shipments were $668.454 billion, up 1.3%; unfilled orders were $1,623.818 billion at month-end, up 0.9%; and inventories were $976.044 billion, up 0.4%. The total manufacturing inventory-to-shipments ratio eased to 1.46 from 1.47. Orders and shipments measure activity during the month, while backlog and inventory are end-of-month stocks, so they are not interchangeable. The September estimates are preliminary, subject to revision and not adjusted for price changes. Census also says the survey panel is not a probability sample, so sampling error cannot be calculated.
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