WASHINGTON - Business inventories remained unchanged at $1,532.5 billion in September, while sales rose 0.6% to $1,209.6 billion, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday.
The last time the level of inventories was this low was July when they were $1,527.7 billion, and the last percentage decline in inventories was December 2009, when they were down almost 0.2%, department officials said.
Business inventories rose a revised 0.4% in August.
Economists polled by Thomson Reuters had projected a median 0.1% gain in business inventories for September.
Sales were up 0.6% to $1,209.7 billion in September, the highest level since July 2008 when they were at $1,213.8 billion, after rising a revised 0.4% the previous month.
The total business inventories/sales ratio based on seasonally adjusted data at the end of September was 1.27, the same as in August but lower than a year ago when it was 1.30.
