Wholesale Trade Inventories And Sales Rise

Wholesale trade inventories rose 0.3 percent in September, confirming the advance report and in line with consensus expectations of a slowdown to a more sustainable pace following the outsized (though revised downward by a tick) 0.8 percent gain in the prior month. Sales in the sector were up 1.3 percent following a 1.9 percent gain in August, which was upwardly revised by 0.2 percentage points. The stock-to-sales ratio fell a notch to 1.27, the lowest reading since December 2014, continuing the downward trend in force this year. Excluding autos, wholesale inventories were up 0.4 percent after a 0.7 percent rise in the prior month.

Recent History Of This Indicator:
Wholesale trade inventories are expected to rise 0.3 percent which is right in line with September's advance reading. Wholesalers have been building their inventories aggressively with 0.9 percent and 0.6 percent builds in the prior two reports.