Employees have short meeting in the warehouse to check business inventory levels of goods. First in first out. (Photo: AdobeStock)
The Census Bureau (US) reported that business inventories rose by 0.1% in June, matching the consensus forecast.
Sales
The combined value of trade sales and manufacturers’ shipments for June, adjusted for seasonal and trading-day differences but not for price changes, came in at an estimated $1,452.2 billion. That’s 0.3% (±0.1%) higher than May 2018 and 8.2% (±1.2%) higher than June 2017.
Inventories
Manufacturers’ and trade inventories, adjusted for seasonal variations but not for price changes, were estimated at an end-of-month level of $1,937.2 billion, up 0.1% (±0.1%)* from May 2018 and were up 4.0% (±1.3%) from June 2017.
Inventories/Sales Ratio
The total business inventories/sales ratio based on seasonally adjusted data at the end of June was 1.33. The June 2017 ratio was 1.39.
