U.S. December wholesale sales, inventories surge
WASHINGTON, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Auto dealers restocked their
lots with new cars in December and wholesale sales posted their
sharpest jump in more than a year, the Commerce Department said
on Wednesday in a report that bolstered the impression of a
surging economy at the beginning of 1999.
Total inventories increased 0.5 percent to a seasonally
adjusted $287.25 billion after a 0.7 percent rise in November.
That exceeded Wall Street economists' forecasts for a 0.3
percent rise in December inventories.
A 4.1 percent bounce in new-car inventories to a seasonally
adjusted $29.63 billion led the inventory pickup as car makers,
especially General Motors Corp., continued adding to dealers'
stocks of cars in the wake of a summer strike at GM, and new
car sales boomed.
Commerce said it was the biggest addition to new car stocks in
1-1/2 years, since a 4.7 percent increase in June 1997, and it
followed a 0.7 percent runoff in inventories in November.
Total wholesale sales shot up by 1.2 percent to $217.39 billion
-- the biggest monthly pickup since a 1.7 percent increase in
September 1997 -- after a 0.7 percent November rise.
As a result, the inventory-to-sales ratio -- which measures how
long it would take to totally deplete stocks at the current
sales pace -- slipped to 1.32 month's worth in December from
1.33 months' in November.
It was the lowest ratio since 1.30 months' worth in July,
implying strong prospects for production ahead to meet demand.
Buoyant wholesale sales and inventory-building was consistent
with booming overall economic growth in the final quarter of
last year.
The nation's gross domestic product, or GDP, advanced at the
strongest rate in 2-1/2 years during the final quarter last
year, growing at a 5.6 percent annual rate, largely on the
basis of robust consumer spending.
Manufacturing industries also showed signs of revival in the
closing months of last year and early in 1999, regaining some
vigor as strong domestic demand offset the impact of weaker
exports to Asia and other parts of the world.
|
