That is back-to-back months of relatively weak industrial orders though there are some positives when looking the details. Domestic orders grew by 0.9% on the month while the drag largely came from a drop in foreign orders, declining by 6.7% in May.

Compared with February 2020, new orders in May were seen 6.2% higher so that is at least a good thing if you want to measure back to pre-pandemic levels. That said, real manufacturing turnover is just over 5% lower compared to what it was back then.