US wholesalers saw their sales and inventories rise in March, as businesses ramped up orders to meet growing demand, official figures showed on Tuesday.Inventories rose by 0.4 per cent to $394.8bn, according to the commerce department. That was slightly lower than Wall Street estimated but marked the third straight month that inventories increased, bringing them to the highest level in eight months.
Rising sales outpaced inventories, climbing by 2.4 per cent to $348bn. Sales increased 15.8 per cent year on year and recorded the sharpest monthly rise since last November. In February, inventories were up by 0.6 per cent.
There are a few stand-out points from the report. As the article notes, sales outpaced inventories. That means we will probably see continued improvement in this area as inventories are still at low levels.
Secondly, lumber sales increase 16.3%. While lumber has sold-off over the last few weeks in sympathy with the general commodities sell-off, this is still a good sign going forward, especially for the housing market.
Here's a link to the census report.
