Total US durable goods new orders, seasonaly adjusted.

This report is compiled from results of the U.S. Census Bureau's Manufacturers' Shipments, Inventories, and Orders (M3) survey. This survey provides statistics on manufacturers' value of shipments, new orders (net of cancellations), end-of-month order backlog (unfilled orders), end-of-month total inventory (at current cost or market value), and inventories by stage of fabrication (materials and supplies, work-in-process, and finished goods). The M3 includes approximately 4,300 reporting units. Units may be divisions of diversified large companies, large homogenous companies, or single-unit manufacturers in 89 industry categories. Due to the small monthly sample, these 89 categories have been combined into 65 publication levels. The survey methodology assumes that the month-to-month changes of the total operations of those companies in the monthly survey effectively represent the month-to-month movements of all establishments that make up the category. The current coverage levels in the survey show that reported data in the monthly survey represent approximately 60 percent of the shipments estimates at the total manufacturing level. Data published represent manufacturing in a calendar month. The data collection is based on a voluntary survey authorized by Title 13 of the United States Code.

The data presented in this release are based on data obtained from a panel of 4,300 reporting units and provide an indication of the activity within the manufacturing sector. The results differ from what would be obtained from a complete enumeration of all manufacturing companies. In addition, a different panel of 4,300 companies would yield different results. The M3 panel is comprised of companies with $500 million or more in shipments and a limited number of smaller companies. From a statistical perspective, the panel is not a probability sample; therefore, the sampling errors that are normally provided with sample surveys cannot be measured. Nonsampling errors are attributable to many sources. The use of company or divisional reports to estimate the monthly change for establishments is one source of nonsampling error. The use of primarily large companies to represent the month-to-month movement of all companies is another potential source. Any corrections will be published in the full report. Corrections received after the full report will be released in the next month's advance report. Any revisions made later than two months will be reflected in the annual benchmark publication.