Wholesale Inventories Rise 0.4%; Sales Gain 0.6% in September

WASHINGTON — The value of wholesale inventories rose 0.4% in September while sales were up 0.6%, according to data released Friday morning by the U.S. Commerce Department.

Auto inventories weighed down the headline build, dropping 3.0% in the month and posting the sharpest monthly decline since December 2012. Inventories excluding the autos category showed a 0.8% increase, according to an MNI calculation, after a 0.6% build in September.

The overall inventory-to-sales ratio held steady at 1.18 in October, but was still below the 1.2 the year before, as sales growth outpaced inventory growth over the last twelve months.

The value of durable inventories rose 0.3% in the month, offset by the draw in auto inventories, as well as a 1.3% decline in the metals category. Otherwise gains were largely broad-based, led by furniture and professional equipment categories, which both posted multi-year high monthly increases.

Nondurable inventories were up 0.5% in the month, with petroleum stocks dropping 2.1%, the largest decline since March, while grocery and farm products posted the largest gains.

Durable sales rose 2.1% in the month, the largest monthly build since November 2012. This was largely due to an 8.5% jump in the auto category, the highest in over four years. Autos offset broad-based losses in the durables sales, notably a 3.9% drop in computer equipment.

Nondurable sales fell 0.7%, with petroleum sales down 2.8% in the month.

Market News International is a real-time global news service for fixed-income and foreign exchange market professionals. See www.marketnews.com.

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