Inventories Off 1.5%; Business Sales Rise 1.0%

WASHINGTON — Business inventories fell 1.5% in August, more than economists had expected, the Commerce Department reported yesterday. Business sales increased 1.0%.

Business inventories fell 1.1% in July and have fallen every month since August 2008.

Economists expected inventories to fall 0.9% in August, according to the median estimate provided by Thomson Reuters.

The inventory-to-sales ratio, a measure of how quickly goods are sold, dropped to 1.33 from 1.36 in July.

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