∙ U.S. Manufacturing and Trade Inventories and Sales Both Rose in April

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Sales: The combined value of distributive trade sales and manufacturers’ shipments for April, adjusted for seasonal and trading-day differences but not for price changes, was estimated at $1,249.6 billion, up 0.2 percent (±0.2%) from March 2012 and up 5.4 percent (±0.4%) from April 2011. Inventories: Manufacturers’ and trade inventories, adjusted for seasonal variations but not for price changes, were estimated at an end-of-month level of $1,575.1 billion, up 0.4 percent (±0.1%) from March 2012 and up 6.0 percent (±0.4%) from April 2011. Inventories/Sales Ratio: The total business inventories/sales ratio based on seasonally adjusted data at the end of April was 1.26. The April 2011 ratio was 1.25. Source: USDOC

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