Highlights
Wholesale inventories rose a steep 1.1 percent in September in a build that is easily offset by a 2.0 percent jump in sales at the wholesale level. The mix makes for a leaner stock-to-sales ratio which is at 1.19. The level of wholesale inventories is one of three components that are plugged into the business inventories report. The other two components, factory inventories and retail inventories, also show declines in their stock-to-sales ratios which is good news for the economy, suggesting that inventory growth is slightly lagging sales growth and which points ahead to positive inventory build and its related benefits to production and employment.

Market Consensus before announcement
Wholesale inventories in August rose 0.5 percent. But a burst of sales brought down inventories relative to sales in the wholesale sector during August. Sales in the sector, showing wide strength and including special strength for autos, jumped 0.9 percent for the strongest increase since February.

2012 Release Schedule

Released On: 1/10 2/9 3/9 4/10 5/9 6/8 7/11 8/9 9/12 10/10 11/9 12/11 Release For: Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct