Business Inventories Continue Muted Gains
Business inventories remained quite subdued in the month of April. That shows a continued muted inventory climate in which businesses just do not seem eager to restock.
Business inventories remained quite subdued in the month of April. While this report might only confirm prior news rather than sway the markets much, it shows a continued muted inventory climate in which businesses just do not seem eager to restock.
April’s inventory levels rose by 0.1%, less than the 0.2% gain expected by both Bloomberg and Dow Jones.
March’s inventory readings were also revised lower. That reading sank to 0.3% rather than the 0.4% that was initially reported.
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The U.S. Census Bureau, via the U.S. Department of Commerce, put the combined value of distributive trade sales and manufacturer shipments at an estimate gain of 0.9% to $1.2902 trillion on a seasonally adjusted basis. However, on a year-over-year basis, this reading was down by 1.3% from April of 2015.
A dollar reading on inventories, also seasonally adjusted, was estimated at an end-of-month level of $1.8071 trillion. That 0.1% gain over the prior month looked a tad better than a year-on-year reading, whereby the Commerce Department showed that gain was 1.0% from April of 2015.
The critical seasonally adjusted inventories-to-sales ratio was 1.40 in April, and the April 2015 ratio was 1.37.
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Jon Ogg has been a financial news analyst since 1997. Mr. Ogg set up one of the first audio squawk box services for traders called TTN, which he sold in 2003. He has previously worked as a licensed broker to some of the top U.S. and E.U. financial institutions, managed capital, and has raised private capital at the seed and venture stage. He has lived in Copenhagen, Denmark, as well as New York and Chicago, and he now lives in Houston, Texas. Jon received a Bachelor of Business Administration in finance at University of Houston in 1992. www.247wallst.com.
