Highlights
Wholesales inventories slipped 0.1 percent in March reflecting steep month-to-month drawdowns for autos, furniture and lumber -- three centers of weakness in the economy. Drawdowns at the wholesale level were also posted for farm products, drugs and especially petroleum, the latter reflecting high inventories relative to demand. Sales at the wholesale level were strong in March, up 1.6 percent overall and pushing down the inventory-to-sales ratio by 2 tenths to a very lean 1.09. Lean inventories are a big plus during times of economic weakness. Year-on-year rates confirm that inventories are lean, showing +6.8 percent for inventories against +12.6 percent for sales. Inventories on the factory side were already posted showing a 0.9 percent rise. Retail inventories will be posted on Tuesday in data that will settle up first-quarter total inventory readings.

2008 Release Schedule

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