Highlights
Wholesalers appear to be having a difficult time keeping their inventories in line with plunging demand. Wholesale inventories slipped only 0.1 percent in September compared to a 1.5 percent plunge in wholesale sales, driving up the stock-to-sales ratio by 2 tenths to 1.12. This is the second month of trouble as inventories rose 0.6 percent in August (last reported at +0.8 percent) while sales fell 1.6 percent, likewise driving that month's stock-to-sales ratio up 2 tenths. Back to September's data, inventories of durable goods swelled by 0.8 percent led by increases in machinery, electrical goods and metals. On the non-durable side, a side much more sensitive to price changes for commodities, inventories fell 1.4 percent for the biggest monthly drop in 12 years led by farm products and petroleum products.

Factory inventories, already released, fell 0.7 percent with retail inventories due out next Friday. Retailers have been scrambling to cut inventories faster than their sales have been declining, so their results will be especially interesting to watch. If retailers have somehow been successful in cutting back stocks, which of course will come at the expense of their consumer-products suppliers, then quarter-to-quarter inventory change, as indicated at the factory and wholesale level, may not be as positive a factor for third-quarter GDP as first estimated.

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