A report released by the Commerce Department on Thursday showed a slight pullback in U.S. business inventories in the month of October.
The Commerce Department said business inventories edged down by 0.1 percent in October after rising by a downwardly revised 0.2 percent in September.
Economists had expected business inventories to come in unchanged compared to the 0.4 percent increase originally reported for the previous month.
The dip in business inventories partly reflected a decrease in wholesale inventories, which fell by 0.4 percent in October after coming in flat in September.
Retail inventories also slipped by 0.1 percent in October after climbing by 0.4 percent in September, while manufacturing inventories inched up by 0.1 percent for the second straight month.
Meanwhile, the report said business sales tumbled by 1.0 percent in October following a 0.9 percent advance in September.
Manufacturing and wholesale sales plunged by 1.4 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively, while retail sales fell by 0.3 percent.
With sales slumping by much more than inventories, the total business inventories/sales ratio crept up to 1.37 in October from 1.36 in September
