Business Inventories Rise Slows
The U.S. Department of Commerce released business inventories data for the month of August on Wednesday morning.
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The U.S. Department of Commerce released business inventories data for the month of August on Wednesday morning. A growth in inventories can be positive for GDP calculations, but too much growth can lead to negative production and employment.
The reading for business inventories came in at 0.2%, against a Bloomberg consensus estimate of 0.4%. The previous level was 0.4%. At the same time there was a 0.4% decline in business sales.
Despite the drop in business sales and increase in inventories, the inventory-to-sales ratio remained unchanged from the previous level at 1.29. The reading for the August inventory-to-sales ratio from the previous year was 1.28.
Retail inventories thinned in August relative to the sales, and on a total dollar basis the stock-to-sales ratio dropped to 1.41 from 1.43.
The stock-to-sales ratio for autos showed a sharp decline to 2.07 from 2.13. However, this may reverse in the next report, considering the weakness in the motor vehicle component in September retail sales.
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Chris Lange is a writer for 24/7 Wall St., based in Houston. He has covered financial markets over the past decade with an emphasis on healthcare, tech, and IPOs. During this time, he has published thousands of articles with insightful analysis across these complex fields. Currently, Lange's focus is on military and geopolitical topics. Lange's work has been quoted or mentioned in Forbes, The New York Times, Business Insider, USA Today, MSN, Yahoo, The Verge, Vice, The Intelligencer, Quartz, Nasdaq, The Motley Fool, Fox Business, International Business Times, The Street, Seeking Alpha, Barron’s, Benzinga, and many other major publications. A graduate of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, Lange majored in business with a particular focus on investments. He has previous experience in the banking industry and startups.
