U.S. business inventories increase 0.6 pct in October

Source: Xinhua | 2018-12-15

U.S. business inventories increased 0.6 percent in October after a rise of 0.5 percent in September, the U.S. Department of Commerce said Friday.
Business inventories for October was revised to 1,982.2 billion U.S. dollars, according to the department.
Manufacturers' and trade inventories, adjusted for seasonal variations but not for price changes, were estimated at an end-of-month level of 1,982.2 billion dollars, up 0.6 percent from September 2018 and up 5.2 percent from October 2017.
The combined value of distributive trade sales and manufacturers' shipments for October, adjusted for seasonal and trading-day differences but not for price changes, was estimated at 1,469.9 billion dollars, up 0.3 percent from September 2018 and up 6.1 percent from October 2017.
The total business inventories/sales ratio based on seasonally adjusted data at the end of October was 1.35. The October 2017 ratio was 1.36.