Reflecting decreases in inventories of both durable and non-durable goods, the Commerce Department released a report on Wednesday showing an unexpected drop in U.S. wholesale inventories in the month of October.
The Commerce Department said wholesale inventories edged down by 0.1 percent in October after rising by a downwardly revised 0.2 percent in September.
Economists had expected inventories to rise by 0.2 percent compared to the 0.5 percent increase originally reported for the previous month.
The report said inventories of durable goods dipped by 0.1 percent, reflecting a 1.1 percent drop in inventories of metals and minerals, except petroleum.
Inventories of non-durable goods also slipped by 0.1 percent amid a 5.2 percent decrease in inventories of farm product raw materials.
Meanwhile, the Commerce Department said wholesale sales were virtually unchanged in October after climbing by 0.5 percent in September.
Sale of durable goods fell by 0.8 percent amid a 2.6 percent drop in sales of motor vehicles and parts, while sales of non-durable goods rose by 0.7 percent amid a 2.9 percent jump in sales of petroleum and petroleum products.
The inventories/sales ratio for merchant wholesalers came in at 1.31 in October, unchanged from the previous month but up from 1.22 a year ago.
On Friday, the Commerce Department is scheduled to release a separate report on total business inventories and sales in the month of October.
The material has been provided by InstaForex Company – www.instaforex.com