The US Census Bureau announced Friday that 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 $1.1 trillion, up 0.1 percent (±0.2 percent) from July 2010, and up 8.2 percent (±0.4 percent) from August 2009.
Furthermore, manufacturers' and trade inventories, adjusted for seasonal variations but not for price changes, were estimated at an end-of-month level of $1.4 trillion, up 0.6 percent (±0.1 percent) from July 2010 and up 4.7 percent (±0.4 percent) from August 2009, and the total business inventories/sales ratio based on seasonally adjusted data at the end of August was 1.27. The August 2009 ratio was 1.31.
August sales for motor vehicle and parts dealers were down from $62.7 billion in July to $62.4 billion, and fell 1.5 percent from the same time last year.