Last month 0.1%

  • Prior month
  • business inventories for July rose 0.6%. That was as expected
  • The prior month came in at 0.1% (not revised)
  • business sales increased 0.2% versus June's 0.3% rise
  • inventory to sales ratio picked up to 1.34 months versus 1.33 months
  • the inventories were boosted by a larger than expected increase in the stock of motor vehicles
  • retail inventories increased 0.5%
  • motor vehicles inventories jumped 1.2%
  • retail inventories including autos which goes into the calculation of GDP, gained 0.1% in July. They fell -0.1% in June

in the 2nd quarter inventory liquidation subtracted nearly 1% from GDP. That was a drag on the 4.2% annualized rate. Economists expect a rebound in the 3rd quarter and that should help GDP.

Later today, the Atlanta Fed and the NY Fed will release their current estimates for third-quarter GDP.

  • The last estimate for GDP from Atlanta was at the 3.8%
  • The NY Fed estimate was much lower at 2.2%