US business inventories fall in March
The drop in inventories, a key component of gross domestic product, was in line with economists’ expectations
US BUSINESS inventories fell in March, but this could lay the ground for businesses to rebuild stocks and support economic growth in the second quarter.
Inventories dipped 0.1 per cent after increasing 0.3 per cent in February, the Commerce Department’s Census Bureau said on Wednesday (May 15). The drop in inventories, a key component of gross domestic product, was in line with economists’ expectations.
Inventories increased 0.7 per cent year-on-year in March.
Private inventory investment cut 0.35 percentage point from GDP growth in the first quarter, the government reported last month. It was the second straight quarter that inventories subtracted from GDP.
The economy grew at a 1.6 per cent annualised rate in the January-March quarter, the slowest pace in nearly two years.
Retail inventories rose 0.2 per cent in March, instead of 0.3 per cent as estimated in an advance report published last month. They increased 0.3 per cent in February.
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Motor vehicle inventories accelerated 1.1 per cent as previously estimated. They rose 0.8 per cent in February.
Retail inventories excluding autos, which go into the calculation of GDP, fell 0.2 per cent instead of 0.1 per cent as reported last month. They gained 0.1 per cent in February.
Wholesale inventories dropped 0.4 per cent in March, while stocks at manufacturers gained 0.1 per cent.
Business sales slipped 0.1 per cent in March after increasing 1.4 per cent in February. At March’s sales pace, it would take 1.37 months for businesses to clear shelves, unchanged from February. REUTERS
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