The US Census Bureau announced today that the combined value of distributive trade sales and manufacturers’ shipments for April, adjusted for seasonal and trading-day differences but not for price changes, was estimated at $1,290.2 billion, up 0.9 percent (±0.2 percent) from March 2016, but was down 1.3 percent (±0.5 percent) from April 2015.
Manufacturers’ and trade inventories, adjusted for seasonal variations but not for price changes, were estimated at an end-of-month level of $1,807.1 billion, up 0.1 percent (±0.1 percent) from March 2016 and were up 1.0 percent (±0.5 percent) from April 2015.
The total business inventories/sales ratio based on seasonally adjusted data at the end of April was 1.40. The April 2015 ratio was 1.37.