WASHINGTON - The value of business inventories rose 0.7% in August, as expected by analysts and predicted by an MNI calculation, matching a 0.7% gain in business sales, a Commerce Department report Friday showed.
Retail inventories rose 0.7%, unrevised from the advance estimate. Wholesale inventories rose 0.9% in the month, while factory inventories were up 0.4%.
The Commerce Department had no comments about any impact from the hurricanes on the inventory data.
Business inventories would have been up 0.6% in August if a 1.3% gain in retail motor vehicle inventories was excluded, an MNI calculation showed.
Retail inventories, after excluding the motor vehicle inventory gain, were up 0.4% in the month, unrevised from the advance estimate. The remaining retail components were generally higher, but inventories at clothing stores and general merchandise stores were flat.
In addition, the unpublished retail categories were up 0.7% for the month, according to an MNI calculation, following a 0.2% decrease in the previous month.
Business sales rose 0.7% in August. Retail sales excluding food services were down 0.1%, while wholesale sales rose 1.7% and factory shipments rose 0.5%.
With the matching movements in business inventories and sales, the inventory-to-sales ratio held steady at 1.38 in August, but was down from a 1.40 reading in August 2016 as sales growth outpaced inventory growth over the last year.
