Furniture Today,
HIGH POINT — U.S. residential furniture factory orders in January were down 7% from the same month a year

earlier, continuing a string of declines, according to accounting and consulting firm Smith Leonard here.

Orders year-over-year were down 6% in December and 8% in November, according to the firm’s factory survey. Factory shipments also were down 7% in January year-over-year, Smith Leonard said.

Ken Smith, the firm’s managing partner, said in his monthly Furniture Insights newsletter that the slow business in January was in line with expectations.

“In our talks at the High Point Market, there appeared to be some bright spots occurring in March, but again no real traction yet,” Smith said. “As has been the case over the past couple of years, some companies continue to have some reasonable growth, but many others are continuing to struggle.”

Furniture factory orders, shipments in January

In billions of dollars
                               Change from
                               Dec.’06 Jan. ’06
Orders     $2.023       8%     -7%
Shipments  1.869       -9%    -7%
Order
  backlog    1.683        7%    -7%

Source: Smith Leonard