The US Census Bureau announced the combined value of distributive trade sales and manufacturers’ shipments for August, adjusted for seasonal and trading day differences but not for price changes, was estimated at $1,452.4 billion, up 0.6 percent (±0.2 percent) from July 2020, but was down 0.4 percent (±0.4 percent) from August 2019.
Manufacturers’ and trade inventories for August, adjusted for seasonal variations but not for price changes, were estimated at an end-of-month level of $1,919.2 billion, up 0.3 percent (±0.1 percent) from July 2020, but were down 5.5 percent (±0.3 percent) from August 2019.
The total business inventories/sales ratio based on seasonally adjusted data at the end of August was 1.32. The August 2019 ratio was 1.39.