15 October 2001, 16:32 US Aug business inventories down 0.1 pct; sales up 0.1 pct
WASHINGTON (AFX) - Business inventories were down 0.1 pct in
August, while business sales rose 0.1 pct, the Commerce Department
said.
This is the seventh straight monthly decline in business
inventories.
The fall in inventories was slightly smaller than expected. The
consensus forecast of Wall Street economists was for inventories to
drop 0.2 pct in August.
Inventories fell a revised 0.5 pct in July, bigger than the
previous estimate of a 0.4 pct fall.
Sales rose 0.4 pct in July, unchanged from the previous estimate.
The combination of inventories to sales produced an
inventories-to-sales ratio of 1.42, meaning it would take 1.42 months
to exhaust the inventory backlog at the August sales pace. This is
unchanged from July.
Year on year, inventories were down 1.1 pct, while sales were down
1.8 pct.
Manufacturing inventories fell 0.7 pct in August, following a 0.8
pct fall in July.
Retail inventories rose 0.6 pct, after rising 0.1 pct in July.
Excluding autos, retail inventories rose 0.6 pct, after a 0.4 pct
drop.
Auto inventories were up 0.6 pct, after a 1.1 pct rise.
Wholesale inventories were down 0.1 pct in August, following a 0.9
pct drop the previous month.
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