Business inventories sink more than expected in April

Sales 
The combined value of distributive trade sales and manufacturers’ shipments for April, adjusted for seasonal and trading day differences but not for price changes, was estimated at $1,184.8 billion, down 14.4 percent (±0.2 percent) from March 2020 and was down 18.4 percent (±0.3 percent) from April 2019. 

Inventories 
Manufacturers’ and trade inventories for April, adjusted for seasonal variations but not for price changes, were estimated at an end-of-month level of $1,981.2 billion, down 1.3 percent (±0.1 percent) from March 2020 and were down 2.2 percent (±0.4 percent) from April 2019.  

Inventories/Sales Ratio 
The total business inventories/sales ratio based on seasonally adjusted data at the end of April was 1.67. The April 2019 ratio was 1.39.