The US Census Bureau announced the combined value of distributive trade sales and manufacturers’ shipments for April, adjusted for seasonal and trading-day differences but not for price changes, was estimated at $1,352.0 billion, virtually unchanged (±0.2 percent) from March 2017, but was up 5.6 percent (±0.3 percent) from April 2016.
Manufacturers’ and trade inventories, adjusted for seasonal variations but not for price changes, were estimated at an end-of-month level of $1,854.2 billion, down 0.2 percent (±0.1 percent) from March 2017, but were up 2.3 percent (±0.4 percent) from April 2016.
The total business inventories/sales ratio based on seasonally adjusted data at the end of April was 1.37. The April 2016 ratio was 1.42.