US Census Bureau announced today that the combined value of distributive trade sales and manufacturers’ shipments for December, adjusted for seasonal and trading-day differences but not for price changes, was estimated at $1,302.3 billion, down 0.6 percent (±0.3 percent) from November 2015 and was down 2.7 percent (±0.5 percent) from December 2014.
Manufacturers’ and trade inventories, adjusted for seasonal variations but not for price changes, were estimated at an end-of-month level of $1,813.1 billion, up 0.1 percent (±0.1 percent) from November 2015 and were up 1.7 percent (±0.6 percent) from November 2014.
The total business inventories/sales ratio based on seasonally adjusted data at the end of December was 1.39. The December 2014 ratio was 1.33.