U.S. wholesale inventories post smallest gain in 2-1/2 years; sales muted
Adds details from report
WASHINGTON, Feb 8 (Reuters) -U.S. wholesale inventories recorded their smallest increase in nearly 2-1/2 yearsin December, suggesting that businesses were holding back on placing new orders for goods amid a stagnation in sales as higher interest rates curb demand.
The Commerce Department said on Wednesday that wholesale inventories edged up 0.1% as previously reported last month. That was the smallest gain since July 2020. Stocks at wholesalers increased 0.9% in November. Economists polled by Reuters had expected that inventories would be unrevised.
Inventories are a key part of gross domestic product. There were increases in wholesale stocks of motor vehicles and electrical equipment. But furniture, computer and professional equipment inventories declined. There were also big decreases in stocks of apparel, farm products, petroleum and paper.
Wholesale inventories advanced 17.6% in December on a year-on-year basis. Inventory accumulation surged in the fourth quarter, mostly reflecting an unwanted piling up of goods, as higher borrowing costs contributed to the slowest pace of growth in domestic demand in 2-1/2 years.
Inventories accounted for half of the 2.9% annualized growth in GDP last quarter, and a liquidation of these unsold goods could contribute to tipping the economy into recession.
Since March, the Federal Reserve has hiked its policy rate by 450 basis points from near zero to a 4.50%-to-4.75% range.
On Tuesday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the U.S. central bank's fight to tame inflation could last "quite a bit of time," in a nod to January's blowout job gains and the lowest unemployment rate in more than 53-1/2 years.
Wholesale inventories, excluding autos, fell 0.2% in December. This component goes into the calculation of GDP.
Sales at wholesalers were unchanged in December after declining 1.4% in November. Sales have softened since last July. Much of the decline in sales in December was concentrated in lumber and miscellaneous durable goods. There were also notable decreases in sales of apparel, alcohol, petroleum and chemicals.
At December's sales pace it would take wholesalers 1.36 months to clear shelves. That was unchanged from November and the highest inventories-to-sales ratio since June 2020.
Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Andrea Ricci
免責聲明: XM Group提供線上交易平台的登入和執行服務，允許個人查看和/或使用網站所提供的內容，但不進行任何更改或擴展其服務和訪問權限，並受以下條款與條例約束：（i）條款與條例；（ii）風險提示；（iii）完全免責聲明。網站內部所提供的所有資訊，僅限於一般資訊用途。請注意，我們所有的線上交易平台內容並不構成，也不被視為進入金融市場交易的邀約或邀請 。金融市場交易會對您的投資帶來重大風險。
所有缐上交易平台所發佈的資料，僅適用於教育/資訊類用途，不包含也不應被視爲適用於金融、投資稅或交易相關諮詢和建議，或是交易價格紀錄，或是任何金融商品或非應邀途徑的金融相關優惠的交易邀約或邀請。
本網站的所有XM和第三方所提供的内容，包括意見、新聞、研究、分析、價格其他資訊和第三方網站鏈接，皆爲‘按原狀’，並作爲一般市場評論所提供，而非投資建議。請理解和接受，所有被歸類為投資研究範圍的相關内容，並非爲了促進投資研究獨立性，而根據法律要求所編寫，而是被視爲符合營銷傳播相關法律與法規所編寫的内容。請確保您已詳讀並完全理解我們的非獨立投資研究提示和風險提示資訊，相關詳情請點擊 這裡查看。
