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Wholesale Inventories


October wholesale inventories rise 0.2%
December 9, 2005: 11:17 AM EST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Inventories at U.S. wholesalers rose a smaller-than-expected 0.2 percent in October, taking stocks relative to sales to their leanest level on record, a government report showed Friday.

Wall Street economists had expected wholesale inventories to rise 0.5 percent after a 0.6 percent increase in September.

Stocks of durables goods, meant to last three years or more, rose 0.9 percent in October as automotive inventories rose 1.9 percent, lumber inventories rose 2.7 percent, and machinery stocks rose 0.9 percent.

Nondurable goods stockpiles fell 1.1 percent on lower inventories of petroleum, which fell 2.1 percent, drugs, which fell 3.1 percent, and farm products, which fell 2.3 percent.

Sales at wholesalers rose 1.2 percent after a 2.4 percent increase in September, their largest rise since March 2004. Automotive sales in October rose 1.5 percent after a 3.1 percent decline in September.

However, because inventories grew at a slower pace, the inventories-to-sales ratio, which measures how quickly stocks would be depleted at the current sales pace, fell to 1.13 months' worth in October, a record low, after hitting 1.15 percent in September.


© Reuters 2005