The Commerce
Department reported on Friday that the U.S. business inventories inched up 0.1
per cent m-o-m in September, following an unrevised
0.3 per cent m-o-m advance in August. This was slightly below economists’
anticipation of a 0.2 per
cent m-o-m rise and marked the sixth consecutive monthly increase in business inventories.
According to
the report, stocks at
retailers surged 0.9 per cent m-o-m in September, while
inventories at merchant wholesalers fell 0.2 per cent m-o-m and those at
manufacturers also decreased 0.2 per cent m-o-m.
In y-o-y terms,
business inventories jumped 2.2 per cent in September.