Factory orders in the United States were down by 1.3% in July compared to the previous month, landing at $603.6 billion, a new report by the Census Bureau said on Wednesday. New orders for manufactured durable goods decreased 2.8% to $303.2 billion, while manufactured nondurable goods orders increased by 0.3% to $0.8 billion. Shipments rose by 1.5% month-on-month to $4.5 billion, while unfilled orders were virtually unchanged to $1,469.6 billion. Inventories grew by 0.3% to $591.2 billion, with the inventories-to-shipments ratio at 1.56, down from June. (full story)