Business inventories for April 2021
- full report
- business inventories -0.2% versus -0.1% estimate. Prior month +0.3% revise to +0.2%
- total business sales 0.6% versus 5.8% in March (was 5.7%).
- Manufacturing sales 0.4% versus 2.1% last month.
- Retail sales 0.5% versus 11.0% last month.
- Wholesalers sales 0.8% versus 4.3% last month
- inventory – sales ratio 1.25 months versus 1.26 months last month
- retail inventories -1.8% versus -1.4% last month
- retail inventories ex autos revise to 0.6% versus 0.5%
- manufacturing inventories increased 0.3% versus 0.8% last month
- wholesale inventories +0.8% versus 1.2% last month
The inventory to sales ratio is at/near lows levels going back to 2012, as supply chain constraints in strong reopening sales demand skew the ratio lower. As inventories are depleted, prices could start to rise further.
