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Economy in Brief
Italy's ISAE Sector Confidence Rebounds Then Retreats
The Italian business and consumer confidence readings are excellent examples of what much of Europe is going through right now...
U.S. New Home Sales Almost Unchanged Since August
New single-family home sales around the country changed very little in October and also in September...
U.S. Q3 Growth GDP Unrevised at 33.1%; Corporate Profits Rebound
The second estimate of Q3 U.S. real GDP indicated that economic activity rose an unrevised 33.1% q/q...
U.S. Durable Goods Orders Rise Further in October
Manufacturers’ orders for durable goods increased 1.3% m/m (-0.3% y/y) in October...
U.S. Goods Trade Deficit Deepens During October
The advance estimate of the U.S. trade deficit in goods deepened to $80.29 billion during October...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
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% |
