WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. wholesale inventories were higher than initially estimated in September as sales barely rose, government data showed on Friday.
The Commerce Department said wholesale inventories gained 0.4% in September, instead of dipping 0.1% as estimated last month. Stocks at wholesalers increased 0.5% in August. The component of wholesale inventories that goes into the calculation of gross domestic product rose 0.4% in September.
Inventories were down 3.9% in September from a year earlier.
Gross domestic product rebounded at a historic 33.1% annualized growth rate in the third quarter. That followed a 31.4% rate of contraction in the second quarter, the deepest since the government started keeping records in 1947.
Inventories contributed to GDP growth last quarter after being a drag for five straight quarters.
Stocks of motor vehicles and parts fell 0.3% in September.
Sales at wholesalers edged up 0.1% in September after increasing 1.2% in August. At September’s sales pace it would take wholesalers 1.31 months to clear shelves, unchanged from August.
(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Andrea Ricci)
