U.S. wholesale inventories increase 0.1% in October

Wholesale inventories in the U.S. rose 0.1% in October, partly recovering from a sharp decline in September. Sales fell 0.7% in the month, however. As a result, the ratio of inventories to sales edged up to 1.37 from 1.36. That's how many months it would take to sell all the inventory on hand. One year ago, the inventory-to-sales ratio was lower at 1.3%. The decline in inventories in September, meanwhile, was revised to 0.7% from 0.4%. Increase in inventories add to gross domestic product while decreases subtract from GDP.