Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : Classic TA Workplace -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: pressboxjr who wrote (4908)	6/14/2001 8:56:14 AM
From: UnBelievable	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 209892

Data Snap: April Inventories Flat, Sales Down =========================================================== Business Inventories April March !Surprise: No ! Total Inventories 0.0% -0.4%r !Trend:Inventory! Inventory/Sales Ratio 1.44 1.43 !Reduction ! =========================================================== By Jennifer Corbett Dooren Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--Inventories at U.S. businesses remained steady in April while sales fell. The level of stockpiling by businesses was unchanged for the month at a seasonally-adjusted level of $1.199 trillion, the Commerce Department said Thursday, following a revised 0.4% decline in March inventories. March inventories had previously been estimated as a 0.3% decline. Businesses registered a 0.5% drop in sales to seasonally-adjusted a $834 billion in April, following a 0.6% decline in March. The April sales decrease pushed the inventory-to-sales ratio to 1.44, the highest level in more than a year. The inventory-to-sales ratio, a measure of how well firms are matching supply with demand, was 1.43 in March. The ratio measures how long it would take in months for a firm to exhaust its current inventory. Despite the business sales decline, the inventory portion of the report will likely be viewed as good news by Wall Street and Federal Reserve Board policymakers. It suggests that the inventory correction that began late last year remains in tact. Businesses found themselves with too much inventory after demand for goods slumped in the wake of the current economic slowdown. Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan has said the U.S. can't return to a higher growth rate until excess business inventories are worked off. Retail inventories, which are the source of new information in the report, fell 0.2%. Within the retail sector, auto inventories fell by 0.2% after falling by 0.9% in March. Factory inventories were up 0.1% in April while wholesale inventories were up 0.3%. The Commerce Department released that information in previous reports earlier this month. Business inventories were up 3.0% on a year-over-year basis and sales were down 0.6% over the same time period. -By Jennifer Corbett Dooren; Dow Jones Newswires; Jennifer.Corbett-Dooren@dowjones.com; (202) 862-9294 (END) DOW JONES NEWS 06-14-01 08:30 AM