U.S. Business Sales Surge Higher In January, Inventories Rise 0.9%

3/11/2011

(RTTNews) - Business inventories in the U.S. increased by slightly more than economists had predicted in January, according to figures released by the Commerce Department on Friday, while sales continued to surge higher.
Manufacturers' and trade inventories, seasonally adjusted, were estimated at $1.4531 trillion, up 0.9 percent from December. Economists had forecast an increase of 0.8 percent.
Additionally, the initial estimate of growth in inventories in December was upwardly revised to 1.1 percent from 0.8 percent.
Total business sales also continued to accelerate, jumping 2.0 percent in January to a level of $1.178 trillion, the highest total sales level since August 2008. Sales increased by 1.6 percent in December.
The increase in sales was driven by a strong showing among merchant wholesalers, who saw a 3.4 percent increase in sales.
Manufacturers also saw a 1.8 percent increase in sales, though that reflected a slowdown from the 2.7 percent increase recorded in December.
Retailers' sales continued to increase steadily in January, rising 0.8 percent compared to the 0.7 percent increase in December.
Manufacturers' inventories showed the largest increase, rising 1.3 percent, while wholesale inventories rose by 1.1 percent.
Retail inventories rose 0.4 percent, although automobiles and parts played only a small part in the increase, rising just 0.1 percent.
The total inventories/sales ratio in January was 1.23, down from the 1.25 ratio recorded in December.
Both sales and inventories were markedly higher from last year, with sales up 10.8 percent from January 2010 and inventories up 9.1 percent.