mishtalk.com / Mike “Mish” Shedlock / July 14, 2017 7:40:58
Adding to silly Commerce Department reporting of “auto sales”, today we learn business inventories were up 0.3%, led by autos up 1.1%. The rise in inventories matched the Econoday consensus estimate.
Inventories are looking to be a slight positive for second-quarter GDP as a 0.3 percent build in May offsets a 0.2 percent draw in April. But it’s inventories at auto dealers that are making the difference, jumping 1.1 percent in May and lifting the retail component to a 0.5 percent build. The May build in vehicles matches a May gain for retail sales of vehicles, though sales proved soft in June.
Wholesalers also built inventories in May, up 0.4 percent with manufacturers, however, working down their inventories by 0.1 percent. Total sales in May came in at minus 0.2 percent which pulls up the inventory-to-sales ratio to a less lean 1.38.
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