Merchant wholesalers posted a 0.6% decrease in inventories in November, while sales dropped 7.1% in the month, according to data released Friday by the Commerce Department.
Inventories of merchant wholesalers slid to $435.0 billion following a revised 1.2% decrease to $437.7 billion in October, originally reported as a 1.1% decrease to $438.2 billion.
Meanwhile, sales of merchant wholesalers slid to about $349.2 billion following October’s revised 4.5% decrease to $376.1 billion, originally reported as a 4.1% drop to $377.4 billion.
Economists polled by Thomson Reuters predicted a 0.8% decrease in wholesale inventories.
Inventories were up 6.3% from November 2007, when they were at $409.3 billion, while year-over-year, sales posted a 7.6% slump from $378.0 billion.
