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Last Update: 14-Jul-11 11:20 ET
Business Inventories Increase as Customers Leave More on Shelves
Total business inventories increased 1.0% in May after increasing an upwardly revised 1.0% (from 0.8%) in April. The Briefing.com consensus expected inventories to increase 0.9%.
Inventory growth for both manufacturers (0.8%) and merchant wholesalers (1.8%) was known prior to the release. The only piece of new information was that retailer inventories increased 0.4% in May after increasing 0.2% in April.
Unfortunately, business sales declined 0.1% in May, reversing the 0.1% increase in April. The lack of growth in sales suggests that the increase in inventory levels may not have been planned as sellers purchased too much inventory for actual demand.
The inventory/sales ratio increased from 1.27 in April to 1.28 in May.
