US July business inventories 0.4% versus 0.3% expected

• Prior 0.3%
• Business inventories 0.4% vs 0.3% expected
• Retail inventories ex-autos 0.5% vs 0.2% last month

Sales:

• July distributive trade sales and manufacturers’ shipments: $1,880.7 billion
• Increase from June 2024: 1.1%
• Increase from July 2023: 2.9%

Inventories:

• July manufacturers’ and trade inventories: $2,574.9 billion
• Increase from June 2024: 0.4%
• Increase from July 2023: 2.5%

Inventories/Sales Ratio:

• July 2024 ratio: 1.37
• July 2023 ratio: 1.37

The Inventory to sales ratio is back within the pre-Covid range after the Covid volatility in 2020 and 2021 (and into early 2022). That seems to be the sweet spot.

This article was written by Greg Michalowski at www.forexlive.com.