Cutting Tool Orders Flat in September

Real cutting tool orders were $171.1 million in September 2016. September's orders were down 0.4 percent compared with one year ago. However, combined with the growth in August, the last two months of cutting tool orders have been significantly better compared with one year ago than at any other time since July 2015. In September, the annual rate of contraction decelerated to its slowest rate since March. It appears that the annual change in cutting tool orders has bottomed. The trend in durable goods new orders, which is a good leading indicator of cutting tool orders, appears to be moving in a positive direction for future cutting tool orders. Durable goods new orders generally have contracted at a decelerating annual rate since October 2015.