US wholesalers pared their stocks in August, with inventories falling for the 12th consecutive month and sales posting their largest rise in more than a year, Commerce Department data showed on Thursday. Wholesale inventories fell 1.3 percent in August, after dropping a revised 1.6 percent in July, which was originally reported as a 1.4 percent decline.
Sales rose 1 percent in August, following a 0.6 percent increase the prior month, which was previously reported as up 0.5 percent. Analysts polled by Reuters had anticipated inventories would drop by a smaller 1 percent and sales would rise by a much slimmer 0.7 percent. Stocks at wholesalers are now at $381.2 billion, their lowest level since July 2006.
That shrank the inventory-to-sales ratio, or how long it would take to sell stocks at the current pace, to 1.20 months' worth from 1.23 months in July. The large decline in inventories was led by autos, metals and minerals, excluding petroleum, according to the Commerce Department.