Business Inventories Ticked Marginally Higher for July

While this is not a major market-moving report, it is still one of the last data points that the Federal Reserve will be looking at when it makes the decision whether to raise interest rates this Thursday.

Some economists may say that the report is working down its inventories. That is because the prior report for June showed a gain of 0.8% on a preliminary basis, but that was just revised slightly lower to a gain of 0.7%.

The U.S. Census Bureau showed that the combined value of distributive trade sales and manufacturers’ shipments for July was estimated to be up 0.1% at $1.328 trillion on a seasonally adjusted basis, versus the June reading. That said, the July reading was down by 2.7% from the July 2014 reading.

Manufacturers’ and trade inventories were estimated to be up 0.1% at $1.8124 trillion on a seasonally adjusted basis, versus June 2015. They were shown to be up by some 2.6% on an annual comparison.

The total business inventories/sales ratio, also seasonally adjusted, rose to 1.36 at the end of July. That compares to a July 2014 ratio of 1.29. Inventories for motor vehicle and parts dealers were up handily by 1.4% in the July/June period and were shown to be up by 5.2% from July 2014. Total retail trade inventories were up 0.6% in July from June, and they were up 1.0% when compared to July 2014.

This is a July reading and is not anywhere close to far enough off estimates to create any last pre–Fed decision panic. For another reminder of the relevance here, this data was from the month that ended six weeks ago.

ALSO READ: 9 Simple Ways to Save Money Dining Out