Sponsored Links
Total business inventories showed a modest increase in the month of October, the Commerce Department revealed in a report released Friday morning, with the unexpected growth marking the first increase in inventories in over a year.
The report showed that business inventories edged up by 0.2 percent in October following a revised 0.5 percent decrease in September. The increase surprised economists, who had expected inventories to slip by 0.2 percent compared to the 0.4 percent drop originally reported for the previous month.
With the modest increase in October, business inventories rose for the first time since a 0.1 percent increase in August of 2008. Nonetheless, inventories in October were down 12.6 percent compared to the same month a year ago.
The unexpected monthly increase in inventories reflected a 0.4 percent increase in manufacturers' inventories as well as a 0.3 percent increase in merchant wholesalers' inventories. At the same time, inventories at retailers came in unchanged compared to the previous month.
Additionally, the Commerce Department said that business sales increased by 1.1 percent in October after edging up by 0.2 percent in September. Despite the continued increase, business sales in October remained down 8.2 percent year-over-year.
The monthly increase reflected strong sales growth for retailers and merchant wholesalers, which reported that sales rose 1.3 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively. Sales by manufacturers increased by a somewhat more modest 0.8 percent.
With the increase in sales outpacing the increase in inventories, the total business inventories/sales ratio edged down to 1.30 in October from 1.31 in September. The ratio came in at 1.37 in the same month a year ago.
0 komentar:
Post a Comment