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From Home Furnishing Business
Survey Said: Furniture Factory Orders Jump 8% in October
January 2,
2018 by Larry Thomas in Economic News, Industry 
Furniture factory orders rebounded in October, registering an 8% increase over the same month in 2016, according to the latest survey from the Smith Leonard accounting and consulting firm.
That represented a sharp reversal from September, when factory orders fell 10% from September 2016.
Smith Leonard said 76% of survey participants reported increased orders in October.
October shipments also were up 8% from October 2016, but backlogs fell 2%, according to the survey.
For the first 10 months of 2017, both orders and shipments were up 5% from the same period in 2016, the survey said.
“The October results of our survey may have been a bit better than expected, but year-to-date orders and shipments are really pretty decent at the 5 percent level,” said Smith Leonard partner Ken Smith. “While business may not be as consistent as we would all hope for, overall, when we sit back and talk with most people, they do admit that business is not all that bad.”
“Certainly that is not true for all, but as our survey showed, a high percentage are showing some sort of growth and the vast majority of those reporting declining orders and shipments are not off a huge percentage,” Smith wrote in the Furniture Insights newsletter accompanying the survey results.
He noted that a number of economic indicators, notably existing home sales and housing starts, remain strong, which is usually good news for the furniture industry.