February 5, 2004 -- (WhatTheyThink.com) -- "We may have hit bottom and it is bumpy, but finally it's encouraging" says Dr. Joe Webb. His "Fridays with Dr. Joe Webb" column will discuss this in more detail, but here are the highlights of yesterday's report from the Commerce Department.   - According to their data, annual shipments were down $2.8 billion compared to 2002. - December's shipments were up almost $200 million over November on a seasonally adjusted basis - December's shipments were up $19 million over November on an actual basis - December 2003 was down $182 million compared to December 2002 on an actual basis   "It's a mixed report, with some improvement in December that I hope continues to move in the right direction." See more details and analysis of this data today in Dr. Joe's column at WhatTheyThink.com.