The US Census Bureau announced today 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 $1,389.7 billion, up 1.4 percent (±0.2 percent) from August 2017 and was up 6.4 percent (±0.4 percent) from September 2016.
Manufacturers’ and trade inventories, adjusted for seasonal variations but not for price changes, were estimated at an end-of-month level of $1,888.7 billion, virtually unchanged (±0.1 percent) from August 2017, but were up 3.5 percent (±0.3 percent) from September 2016.
The total business inventories/sales ratio based on seasonally adjusted data at the end of September was 1.36. The September 2016 ratio was 1.40.