BUSINESS INVENTORIES AND SALES
Manufacturing and Trade Inventories and Sales

Graph of Business Inventories

Indicator Release Date Coverage For Actual S&P Consensus Business Inventories and Sales 4/13 Feb-11 0.5% 0.8%

Release Date 5/14 6/11 7/14 8/13 9/14 10/15 11/15 12/14 1/14 2/15 3/11 4/13 Coverage Mar 10 Apr 10 May 10 Jun 10 Jul 10 Aug 10 Sep 10 Oct 10 Nov 10 Dec 10 Jan 11 Feb 11 Inventories 0.60 0.46 0.21 0.42 1.13 0.78 1.16 1.05 0.37 1.09 0.96 0.50 Data displayed as M/M % change

Definition:	The Business Inventories and Sales report is a tally in dollars of all inventories held by manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers. It also tracks sales levels and calculates the inventory-to-sales ratio.
Meaning:	The level of inventories indicates near-term production activity. Low inventories would mean increased production and high inventory levels would mean slower production in order to reduce (catch up with) the existing inventories. The inventory-to-sales ratio is an estimate of how long it would take in months to deplete inventories at current sales levels.
Weight:	*
Source:	U.S. Department of Commerce: Bureau of the Census
Availability:	Report released 6-weeks following the reference month
Frequency:	Monthly
Coverage:	2 Month Lag Factor (Data for May is released in July)
Volatility:	Moderate
Impact on the Markets:
Interest Rates:	Business Inventories = Interest Rates Business Inventories = Interest Rates
Fixed-income:	Business Inventories = Uncertain Business Inventories = Uncertain
Equities:	Business Inventories = No Reaction Business Inventories = No Reaction
Dollar:	Business Inventories = No Reaction Business Inventories = No Reaction
More Information:	U.S. Department of Commerce: Bureau of the Census