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Last Update: 10-Jan-12 12:08 ET
Wholesale Inventories Expand, but at a Rate Less than Expected
Wholesale inventories increased 0.1% in November after increasing a downwardly revised 1.2% (from 1.6%) in October. The Briefing.com consensus expected wholesale inventories to increase 0.5%.
The lack of inventory growth came primarily from a downturn in wholesale automotive and professional equipment inventories. These inventories fell a combined 1.5% and subtracted 0.4 percentage points from total wholesale inventory growth.
Wholesale sales increased a healthy 0.6% in November. Wholesale durable sales increased 0.9% on strong sales of professional equipment and miscellaneous durable goods. Nondurable sales increased 0.3% in November, down from 1.7% in October. The smaller growth in November reflects a pullback in farm product sales (-1.9% in November from +12.2% in October).
The inventory-to-sales ratio remained at 1.15.
The lack of inventory growth came primarily from a downturn in wholesale automotive and professional equipment inventories. These inventories fell a combined 1.5% and subtracted 0.4 percentage points from total wholesale inventory growth.
Wholesale sales increased a healthy 0.6% in November. Wholesale durable sales increased 0.9% on strong sales of professional equipment and miscellaneous durable goods. Nondurable sales increased 0.3% in November, down from 1.7% in October. The smaller growth in November reflects a pullback in farm product sales (-1.9% in November from +12.2% in October).
The inventory-to-sales ratio remained at 1.15.
