WASHINGTON – The value of business inventories held steady in October, compared with expectations for a 0.1% gain, as retail inventories rose 0.1% to partially offset already announced 0.1% declines at both the wholesale and factory levels, data released Friday morning by the Commerce Department showed.
Overall business inventories would have still been flat in October if a 0.4% decline in retail motor vehicle inventories was excluded, an MNI calculation showed. This followed a flat reading in the previous month.
After excluding the motor vehicle inventory decline, the remaining retail categories combined for a 0.4% increase on gains in every component except for furniture and clothing.
In addition, the unpublished retail categories were up 0.6% in October after a 0.8% gain in September, according to an MNI calculation.
Business sales were fell 0.2% in October. Retail sales excluding food services were flat, as announced earlier Friday, while wholesale sales were already reported as flat in the month. However, manufacturing shipments, which are equal to sales in this report, fell 0.5%.
As a result of the flat reading in business inventories and the decline in business sales, the inventory-to-sales ratio rose to 1.38 in October from 1.37 in September and is now the highest since a matching 1.38 reading in June 2009. The ratio was 1.31 in October 2014.
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