US Manufacturing Surge in April Based Entirely on Soaring Aircraft Orders
By Reuters | 03 Jun, 2026

New orders for US factory goods posted their biggest increase in nearly a year in April amid a 165.9% jump for commercial aircraft.

New orders for U.S. factory goods posted their biggest increase in nearly a year in April amid strong demand for commercial aircraft and a range of other goods.

Factory orders surged 4.8%, the largest rise since May 2025, after an upwardly revised 1.8% advance in March, the Commerce Department's Census Bureau said on Wednesday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast orders increasing 4.6% after a previously reported 1.5% rise in March.

Orders increased 6.0% year-on-year in April. Manufacturing, which accounts for 9.4% of the economy, is being underpinned by an artificial intelligence spending boom, though the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran poses a downside risk.

The three-month conflict has severely disrupted the shipping of commodities and raised prices of goods like energy, aluminum and fertilizers. An Institute for Supply Management survey on Monday showed supplier delivery performance slowed for a sixth consecutive month in May, keeping prices for inputs elevated.

Commercial aircraft orders soared 165.9% after declining 23.0% in March. Boeing reported on its website that it had received 136 orders in April, most of them for more expensive models. That number compared to 33 orders in March.

Orders for primary metals increased 2.0%, while bookings for fabricated metal products jumped 3.5%. Orders for machinery rose 0.7%. Electrical equipment, appliances and components orders climbed 0.5%. There were also increases in orders for motor vehicle bodies, parts and trailers. But orders for computers and electronic products dropped 0.7%, with computers falling 2.5%.

The Census Bureau also reported that orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, which are seen as a measure of business spending plans on equipment, declined 1.0% in April instead of 1.1% as estimated last week. Shipments of these so-called core capital goods rose 0.4% as previously reported.

(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Andrea Ricci)