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Economy in Brief
Delay in Release
of Data for Construction, MSIO, Intl Trade, Wholesale Trade, Monthly Treasury, Retail Sales, Business Sales & Inventories, and Housing Starts Due to Lapse in Federal Government Funding.
U.K. Retail Sales Begin to Lose Momentum
U.K. retail sales fell by a sharp 1% in December...
Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index Rebounds; Pricing Pressure Eases
The Philadelphia Fed reported that its General Factory Sector Business Conditions Index increased to 17.0 during January...
U.S. Initial Unemployment Insurance Claims Slip
Initial claims for jobless insurance eased to 213,000 (-2.6% y/y) during the week ended January 12...
Passenger Car Registrations Hold to Low Ground in Europe
Passenger car registrations in Europe fell on a year-over-year comparison for the fourth consecutive months in December...
by Tom Moeller October 14, 2005
August total business inventories reversed the prior month's decline and rose 0.4%. The increase was double Consensus expectations, the first since May and the largest since March. Nevertheless, the ratio of inventories-to-sales remained at the record low of 1.26 due to a 0.4% (7.1% y/y) rise in business sales.
The 0.9% rise in retail inventories gained back half of the prior month's decline due to a 1.7% increase in motor vehicle inventories but excluding autos inventories jumped 0.6% (5.9% y/y). Furniture inventories fell 0.3% (+6.1% y/y) but general merchandise surged 1.3% (6.9% y/y).
Factory sector inventories fell slightly after a sharp 0.6% July gain.
Wholesale inventories increased 0.5%. During the last ten years there has been a 64% correlation between the y/y change in wholesale inventories and the change in imports of merchandise.
Economic Flexibility, a speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, is available here.
| Business Inventories | Aug | July | Y/Y | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 0.4% | -0.4% | 3.8% | 7.7% | 1.4% | 1.6% |
| Retail | 0.9% | -1.8% | -0.4% | 5.7% | 3.9% | 5.9% |
| Retail excl. Autos | 0.6% | -0.0% | 5.9% | 5.9% | 2.0% | 2.3% |
| Wholesale | 0.5% | 0.1% | 7.7% | 10.8% | 2.0% | 1.2% |
| Manufacturing | -0.1% | 0.6% | 5.3% | 7.7% | -1.1% | -5.4% |
