The US Census Bureau announced the combined value of distributive trade sales and manufacturers’ shipments for March, adjusted for seasonal and trading day differences but not for price changes, was estimated at $1,470.1 billion, up 1.6 percent (±0.2 percent) from February 2019 and was up 3.7 percent (±0.3 percent) from March 2018.
Manufacturers’ and trade inventories, adjusted for seasonal variations but not for price changes, were estimated at an end-of-month level of $2,018.1 billion, virtually unchanged (±0.1 percent) from February 2019, but were up 5.0 percent (±0.5 percent) from March 2018.
The total business inventories/sales ratio based on seasonally adjusted data at the end of March was 1.37. The March 2018 ratio was 1.36.