Machine Tool Orders Flat in February

In February, machine tool orders were 1,690 units and $288,368,000.

Compared with one year ago, unit orders in February were down 0.1 percent. February's results ended three straight months of growth and growth in five of the previous six months. The year-over-year change is moving in a positive direction, contracting at its slowest rate since August 2015, which was the last time the year-over-year change was growing. 

Real dollar orders were down 0.4 percent compared with one year ago. This was the second month in a row and the third time in the last five months that real dollar orders contracted month-over-month. The annual rate of contraction decelerated to -1.4 percent, which was the slowest rate of contraction since June 2015.

While the totals are still low, the South Central region had the fastest annual rate of growth of any region in February. The annual rate of change saw accelerating growth for the second month in row as orders grew by 6.9 percent. This was because month-over-month growth was above 36 percent in six of the last seven months. The only other region with annual growth in unit orders was the West as the Southeast fell into contraction in February.

Four of the six regions have annual growth in real dollar sales. The only two that do not are the North Central-East and the South Central.