U.S. Machine Tool Orders Down

U.S. manufacturing technology orders fell 7.7 percent from the previous month to a total of $357.8 million in June 2019, according to the latest U.S. Manufacturing Technology Orders Report published by AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology (McLean, VA). While cutting technologies fell by a modest 2.1 percent, a majority of the month-over-month decline was driven by the more volatile forming and fabricating technologies. Orders for the first half of 2019 totaled $2.249 million, a decrease of 12.8 percent compared to the first half of 2018 when orders totaled $2.58 million.

“The manufacturing technology market is under pressure from ongoing trade issues and a global manufacturing slowdown that is driving competitiveness in the North American market,” said Doug Woods, the president of AMT – The Association for Manufacturing Technology. “Our members are adjusting their business models to address these challenges, along with the predicted fall by analysts of order levels in 2019.”

After more than doubling orders from April-May 2019, the agricultural implement manufacturing sector dramatically slashed orders in June, a possible spillover of the trade war that impacts farmers. Government and defense orders in June were less than a tenth of their May 2019 levels. The automotive sector reduced orders by over a third from May 2019 levels, and aerospace orders declined by slightly over ten percent. While the majority of industries pulled back orders in June, there were several areas of notable growth: Medical equipment manufacturing and household appliance manufacturing increased orders nearly 40 percent. Job shops increased orders by modest single-digits, marking their second consecutive month of growth.

The Northeast was the only region to show growing orders over the previous month and over June of last year. Orders from the South Central region grew nine percent over May 2019, but showed a modest decline over June 2018. The largest monthly declines were in the Southeast and North Central West regions, where orders fell by double digits between May and June 2019. The North Central East region fell by nearly nine percent from May 2019 and the West region had a monthly decline near equal to the year-over-year gains. The University of Michigan Index of Consumer Sentiment was 98.4 percent for July 2019, essentially flat over the June reading of 98.2 percent.

Richard Curtin, the chief economist of Surveys of Consumers, noted in a July press release that there has been “remarkably small” variation, with the sentiment index falling within a 10.2 percentage point range over the past 30 months. The July 2019 ISM® Manufacturing Report On Business® reported the Purchasing Managers Index fell half a percentage point to 51.2, its fourth straight month of declines. Capacity utilization rose for the second straight month to 76.37 in June. While lightweight vehicle sales dipped slightly from May, the annual rate remained above 17 million units for the third month in 2019, at 17.239 million units.

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