The Commerce Department informed on Thursday that the U.S. business
inventories slipped 0.1 per cent m-o-m in October, following
a downwardly revised 0.2 per cent m-o-m increase (from +0.4 per cent m-o-m) in September.
That was worse than economists’ forecast of
a flat m-o-m performance and marked the first monthly decrease in business inventories
in four months.
According to the report, stocks at manufacturers inched up 0.1 per cent
m-o-m in October, while inventories at retailers edged down 0.1 per cent m-o-m,
and those at merchant wholesalers declined 0.4 per cent m-o-m.
In y-o-y terms, business inventories were up 0.6 per cent in October.