Retail Inventories Rise, Wholesale Inventories Fall

Retail inventories rose 0.3 percent in September in an offset, for Wednesday's third-quarter GDP report, to a 0.3 percent draw in wholesale inventories also released this morning. Retail inventories for autos, up 0.2 percent, showed no immediate indication of dislocations tied to the GM strike which began mid-month September.

...meanwhile...

Wholesale inventories fell 0.3 percent in September versus a revised no change in August. The draw was centered in nondurable goods where price effects are often at play and where inventories fell 0.7 percent in the month. Inventories of durables at the wholesale level fell 0.1 percent.

Lower inventories are a negative for GDP though these results for September are offset by a 0.3 percent headline build for advance retail inventories, data also released this morning.