Washington, DC, October 10, 2006--Inventories at the wholesaler level gained a higher-than-expected 1.1 percent in August on advances in both durable and nondurable stocks, a government report on Tuesday showed.
Analysts were expecting inventories to rise by 0.7 percent in August.
Wholesale inventories gained a revised seasonally adjusted 0.9 percent in July, previously reported up 0.8 percent, the Commerce Department said.
Compared to the same time a year ago, inventories were up 9.7 percent while sales were up an even stronger 12.5 percent from a year ago.
Inventories of durable goods rose 0.9 percent in August, which was the 36th straight monthly gain.
Auto wholesale inventories fell 0.9 percent in August but they were up 7 percent from the same time a year ago. The auto inventory-to-sales ratio, a gauge of how long it would take to empty stocks at the current pace of sales, was 1.36 in August, down from 1.4 in July.
Nondurable good inventories climbed 1.5 percent in August after a 0.8 percent rise the prior month.
The inventory-to-sales ratio overall at wholesalers was 1.15, unchanged from July.
Sales at wholesalers rose 1.1 percent in August after a 0.5 percent gain the prior month.
