Global| Apr 18 2019PUT NEW TT U.S. Business Inventories and Sales Rise in January
Summary
Total business inventories increased 0.8% (5.3% year-on-year) during January.... Total business sales rose 0.3% (2.8% y/y), following a 0.9% decrease in December. The inventory-to-sales (I/S) ratio ticked up to 1.39, the fourth [...]
Total business inventories increased 0.8% (5.3% year-on-year) during January.... Total business sales rose 0.3% (2.8% y/y), following a 0.9% decrease in December. The inventory-to-sales (I/S) ratio ticked up to 1.39, the fourth consecutive gain.
The manufacturing and trade data are in Haver's USECON database.
| Manufacturing & Trade | Feb | Jan | Dec | Feb Y/Y | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Business Inventories (% chg) | 0.3 | 0.9 | 0.8 | 4.9 | 4.9 | 3.4 | 1.7 |
| Retail | 0.3 | 0.8 | 1.1 | 4.3 | 4.2 | 2.4 | 4.1 |
| Retail excl. Motor Vehicles | 0.4 | 0.7 | 1.3 | 1.9 | 1.2 | 2.2 | 1.9 |
| Merchant Wholesalers | 0.2 | 1.2 | 1.1 | 6.9 | 7.1 | 3.3 | 1.9 |
| Manufacturing | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 3.6 | 3.5 | 4.5 | -0.7 |
| Business Sales (% chg) | |||||||
| Total | 0.1 | 0.3 | -0.9 | 2.4 | 6.1 | 5.6 | -0.8 |
| Retail | -0.3 | 0.8 | -1.8 | 1.9 | 4.7 | 5.0 | 2.5 |
| Retail excl. Motor Vehicles | -0.3 | 1.6 | -2.5 | 2.0 | 5.4 | 5.0 | 2.0 |
| Merchant Wholesalers | 0.3 | 0.5 | -0.7 | 2.1 | 6.6 | 6.7 | -1.3 |
| Manufacturing | 0.4 | -0.3 | -0.2 | 3.3 | 6.8 | 5.0 | -3.2 |
| I/S Ratio | |||||||
| Total | 1.39 | 1.39 | 1.39 | 1.36 | 1.36 | 1.38 | 1.42 |
| Retail | 1.48 | 1.47 | 1.47 | 1.45 | 1.44 | 1.47 | 1.49 |
| Retail excl. Motor Vehicles | 1.21 | 1.20 | 1.21 | 1.21 | 1.20 | 1.24 | 1.28 |
| Merchant Wholesalers | 1.35 | 1.35 | 1.34 | 1.29 | 1.29 | 1.30 | 1.35 |
| Manufacturing | 1.36 | 1.36 | 1.35 | 1.36 | 1.35 | 1.37 | 1.41 |
Gerald D. Cohen
AuthorMore in Author Profile »Gerald Cohen provides strategic vision and leadership of the translational economic research and policy initiatives at the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise.
He has worked in both the public and private sectors focusing on the intersection between financial markets and economic fundamentals. He was a Senior Economist at Haver Analytics from January 2019 to February 2021. During the Obama Administration Gerald was Deputy Assistant Secretary for Macroeconomic Analysis at the U.S. Department of Treasury where he helped formulate and evaluate the impact of policy proposals on the U.S. economy. Prior to Treasury, he co-managed a global macro fund at Ziff Brothers Investments.
Gerald holds a bachelor’s of science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University and is a contributing author to 30-Second Money as well as a co-author of Political Cycles and the Macroeconomy.
More Economy in Brief
