U.S. factory orders drop 8% in December
Orders for full year down 4% versus 2006
By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, February 29, 2008
HIGH POINT — U.S. residential furniture factory orders in December were down 8% from the same month a year ago, leaving orders for the full year down 4% from 2006, according to Smith Leonard.
The accounting and consulting firm said its monthly survey also showed that factory shipments were down 5% for the month and also for the year. Shipments in 2007 were estimated at just under $25 billion, compared with $26.4 billion the previous year.
For the year, some 70% of the survey respondents told the firm they had lower orders and 76% reported lower shipments.
“For the year, except for the blip related to the April Market and October, every month in 2007 reported lower orders than the previous year,” Ken Smith, managing partner of Smith Leonard, said in the firm’s monthly Furniture Insights newsletter.
“On a brighter note, after hearing mostly negative news in January, we have heard some positive comments in February,” he added. “Not anything great, mind you, but at least some comments of some decent order days and even weeks in February.”
But Smith said that he still doesn’t expect a significant rebound “until at least later on in 2008.”
| Change from | |||
| Nov. '07 | Dec. '06 | ||
| Source: Smith Leonard | |||
| Orders | $1.805 | -10% | -8% |
| Shipments | 2.010 | -- | -5% |
| Order backlog | 1.527 | -7% | -6% |
| January-December Change from 2006 | |||
| Orders | $24.861 | -4% | |
| Shipments | 24.970 | -5% | |
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December orders drop 8%
Mar 3, 2008 -
Factory orders fall 10%
Dec 7, 2009 -
August orders down 12%
Nov 9, 2009 -
Factory orders down 5% in January
Apr 2, 2008
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