Highlights
In bad but predictable news, inventories at the wholesale sale level jumped in February, up 1.1 percent, at the same time that sales fell, down 0.8 percent, a combination that pushes the stocks-to-sales ratio up 2 tenths to 1.12. Inventories were higher across most goods including drugs, furniture, machinery, apparel, and autos. The inventory-to-sales ratio for autos, at 1.51, is the highest in nearly two years with the ratio for furniture, at 1.48, the highest in more than five years. Price inflation likely played a part in inventory gains for metals, farm products, chemicals, and petroleum products.

The economic slowdown has been no surprise, especially for the nation's purchasers who have been sweating the risk of overhang ever since talk of recession started. Today's report is really the first to show trouble as prior inventory data, including data from the ISM, have shown little pressure. Factory inventories, already reported, rose a sizable 0.5 percent in February. Inventory on the retail sector will be posted in Monday's business inventories report and an oversize gain in that report would definitely raise a new concern for the economic outlook.

2008 Release Schedule

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