The US Census Bureau announced the combined value of distributive trade sales and manufacturers’ shipments for September, adjusted for seasonal and trading day differences but not for price changes, was estimated at $1,459.4 billion, down 0.2 percent (±0.2 percent) from August 2019, but was up 0.5 percent (±0.3 percent) from September 2018.
Manufacturers’ and trade inventories, adjusted for seasonal variations but not for price changes, were estimated at an end-of-month level of $2,041.5 billion, virtually unchanged (±0.1 percent) from August 2019, but were up 3.7 percent (±0.5 percent) from September 2018.
The total business inventories/sales ratio based on seasonally adjusted data at the end of September was 1.40. The September 2018 ratio was 1.36.