Business inventories slip in January

Sales 
The combined value of distributive trade sales and manufacturers’ shipments for January, adjusted for seasonal and trading day differences but not for price changes, was estimated at $1,471.2 billion, up 0.6 percent (±0.2 percent) from December 2019 and was up 2.1 percent (±0.3 percent) from January 2019.  

Inventories 
Manufacturers’ and trade inventories for January, adjusted for seasonal variations but not for price changes, were estimated at an end-of-month level of $2,035.3 billion, down 0.1 percent (±0.1 percent)* from December 2019, but were up 1.1 percent (±0.4 percent) from January 2019.  

Inventories/Sales Ratio 
The total business inventories/sales ratio based on seasonally adjusted data at the end of January was 1.38. The January 2019 ratio was 1.40.