July business inventories edge up

Sales 
The combined value of distributive trade sales and manufacturers’ shipments for July, adjusted for seasonal and trading day differences but not for price changes, was estimated at $1,441.1 billion, up 3.2 percent (±0.2 percent) from June 2020, but was down 1.2 percent (±0.4 percent) from July 2019. 

Inventories 
Manufacturers’ and trade inventories for July, adjusted for seasonal variations but not for price changes, were estimated at an end-of-month level of $1,914.3 billion, up 0.1 percent (±0.1 percent)* from June 2020, but were down 5.9 percent (±0.3 percent) from July 2019.

Inventories/Sales Ratio 
The total business inventories/sales ratio based on seasonally adjusted data at the end of July was 1.33. The July 2019 ratio was 1.39.