• U.S. Business Sales and Inventories – October 2012

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Sales: The combined value of distributive trade sales and manufacturers’ shipments for October, adjusted for seasonal and trading-day differences but not for price changes, was estimated at $1,257.7 billion, down 0.4 percent (±0.2%) from September 2012 and up 3.1 percent (±0.4%) from October 2011. Inventories: Manufacturers’ and trade inventories, adjusted for seasonal variations but not for price changes, were estimated at an end-of-month level of $1,619.2 billion, up 0.4 percent (±0.1%) from September 2012 and up 5.7 percent (±0.4%) from October 2011. Inventories/Sales Ratio: The total business inventories/sales ratio based on seasonally adjusted data at the end of October was 1.29. The October 2011 ratio was 1.26. Source: USDOC-Census

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