U.S. March business inventories down 0.3 pct; sales down 0.3 pct

WASHINGTON (AFX) - U.S. business inventories fell 0.3 pct in March, while business sales also dropped 0.3 pct, the Commerce Department said.

	    The fall in inventories was stronger than expected. The consensus forecast of Wall Street economists was for inventories to fall 0.2 pct in March.

	    Inventories fell a revised 0.4 pct in February, down from the initial estimate of a 0.2 pct fall.

	    Sales fell a revised 0.4 pct in February, down from the initial estimate that sales fell by 0.3 pct.

	    The inventory data imply a downward revision to first quarter GDP because the Commerce Department assumed a 0.1 pct increase in retail inventories in March.

	    The combination of inventories to sales in March produced an inventories-to-sales ratio of 1.37, meaning it would take 1.37 months to exhaust the backlog at the March sales pace.

	    This is unchanged from February, but remains the highest 

inventory-to-sales ratio since Jan 1999.

	    Year on year, inventories were up 3.8 pct, while sales were down 0.6 pct.

	    Manufacturing inventories were down 0.6 pct in March, following a 0.4 pct fall in February. 

	    Durable goods inventories were down 0.9 pct in March, after falling 0.4 pct the month before.

	    Retail inventories fell 0.3 pct, after falling 0.6 in February. 

	    Excluding autos, retail inventories rose 0.1 pct, after a 0.1 pct fall in the prior month.

	    Auto inventories were down 1.3 pct, after a 1.8 pct fall. 

	    Wholesale inventories increased 0.1 pct in March, following a 0.2 pct fall the previous month.

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