U.S. Wholesale Inventories Show Slight Uptick In September

(RTTNews) - With a drop in durable goods inventories partly offsetting a rebound in non-durable goods inventories, the Commerce Department released a report on Wednesday showing only a slight uptick in U.S. wholesale inventories in the month of September.

The Commerce Department said wholesale inventories inched up by 0.1 percent in September after edging down by a revised 0.1 percent in August.

Economists had expected inventories to rise by 0.2 percent compared to the 0.2 percent dip originally reported for the previous month.

The modest rebound in wholesale inventories came as inventories of non-durable goods climbed by 0.9 percent in September following a 0.4 percent drop in August.

Inventories of petroleum and petroleum products and drugs and druggists' sundries showed significant increases during the month.

On the other hand, the report said inventories of durable goods fell by 0.4 percent in September after inching up by 0.1 percent in August.

Notable decreases in inventories of motor vehicle, parts and supplies and metals more than offset a continued increase in inventories of computers, peripheral equipment and software.

The Commerce Department also said wholesale sales rose by 0.2 percent in September after climbing by 0.7 percent in August.

Sales of durable and non-durable goods edged up by 0.2 percent and 0.1 percent, respectively, reflecting significant increases in sales of electrical and electronic goods and petroleum and petroleum products.

Meanwhile, the report showed substantial decreases in sales of hardware, plumbing and heating equipment and supplies and farm product raw materials.

With inventories and sales both showing modest increases, the inventories/sales ratio for merchant wholesalers held at 1.33 in September, unchanged from August and the same month a year ago.