Manufacturing and Trade Inventories and Sales Analysis

Manufacturing and trade inventories and sales
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Manufacturing and trade inventories and sales
On March 31st 2013, the United States Census Bureau released an important report on manufacturing and trade inventories and sales. With regard to sales, the bureau announced that the combined value of distributive manufacturers’ shipments and trade sales for March 2013 was estimated to be $ 1,272.8 billion, a 0.5% reduction from the month of Feb 2013 and a 2.9% increment up from January 2013. With regard to inventories, manufacturers’ and trade inventories were estimated to be at $1,652.2 billion end-of-month level. This represents a 0.3% decrease from December 2012 and an increase of 5.6% from January 2013 (U.S. Department of Commerce). On the inventories/sales (I/S) ratio, the report indicates that the total business inventories-to-sales ratio as at March 31 2013 was 1.29, a slight increase compared to the 1.26 reported in February 2013 (Yamarone). The report for April 2013 will be released on May 12, 2013.
The I/S ratio is perhaps the most-watched variable among th...