It seems the announcement of this grand economic recovery is premature, at least in the United States.

The report on Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories and Orders, August 2009 has been released and it ain't pretty.

New orders for manufactured goods in August, down following four consecutive monthly increases, decreased $2.8 billion or 0.8 percent to $352.9 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau reported today. This followed a 1.4 percent July increase. Excluding transportation, new orders increased 0.4 percent.

More bad news on new orders for durable goods, down 2.6%:

New orders for manufactured durable goods in August, down two of the last three months, decreased $4.4 billion or 2.6 percent to $164.1 billion, revised from the previously published 2.4 percent decrease. This followed a 4.8 percent July increase.

Nondefense aircraft is down a whopping 42.6% from last month and believe this or not, cash for clunkers is in these figures with just a 2.0% bump. Defense aircraft was also down 10.6%. Ouch.

Inventories:

Inventories of manufactured durable goods in August, down eight consecutive months, decreased $4.5 billion or 1.4 percent to $308.4 billion, revised from the previously published 1.3 percent decrease. This followed a 1.2 percent July decrease.

This is just bad news, period, although why nondefense aircraft feel off a cliff is not known.