Demand for U.S.-made factory goods fell for the sixth straight month in January, dropping 1.9% on weakness in durable goods orders, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. Orders are down 20% in the past six months, a reflection of how deeply the recession is hitting U.S. manufacturers. Orders have never fallen for six months in a row since the government began collecting the data in 1992. Factory orders fell a revised 4.9% in December, one percentage point lower than previously reported. Orders for durable goods fell 4.5% in January, revised higher from the 5.2% drop estimated a week ago. Orders for civilian aircraft and computers were revised up sharply. Civilian aircraft orders increased 168%, not 82% as reported last week. Computer orders fell 4.1%, not 16%. The first report is based on a smaller sample and large revisions are common. However, orders for core capital goods equipment - the kind of things companies use to expand or upgrade their productive capacity - were revised lower to a 5.7% decline. Orders for nondurable goods rose 0.4%, as prices rose for commodities such as petroleum. Orders for petroleum increased 9.8%. Shipments of factory goods fell 1.7%, a record sixth-straight decline. Inventories of factory goods fell 0.8%, the fifth straight decline. The inventory-to-shipments ratio rose to 1.46 from 1.44, showing that manufacturers' stocks are too high compared to sales. Orders and shipments declined for every major durable-goods industry. Among nondurable industries, only food, petroleum and printing saw higher demand in January.

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