REPEAT:MNI DATA ANALYSIS: US November Wholesale Inv +0.8%>

Repeats Story Initially Transmitted at 13:30 GMT Jan 10/08:30 EST Jan 10

--Nov Wholesale Sales Up 1.5%;Inventory/Sales Ratio 1.24 Vs 1.25

--Nov Business Inv Tracking +0.4%, Business Sales +1.2%

By Holly Stokes and Sara Haire

     WASHINGTON (MNI) - The value of wholesale inventories rose 0.8% in 

November, a small upwards revision from the 0.7% increase in the advance 

estimate, while wholesale sales saw a 1.5% increase, data released 

Wednesday by the U.S. Commerce Department showed. 

     With the 0.8% rise in wholesale inventories, combined with the 0.4% 

gain in factory inventories reported last friday, and barring no 

revision to the 0.1% retail inventories, an MNI calculation expects a 

0.4% increase for business inventories, to be released January 12.  

     With the addition of the 1.5% gain in wholesale sales to the 0.8% 

increase for retail trade sales from last month's advanced sales release 

and the 1.2% increase for factory shipments reported on January 5, an 

MNI calculation indicates there will be a 1.2% increase for business 

sales barring a large revision to retail trade sales.  

     With the increase in November wholesale inventories, but the larger 

increase in wholesale sales, the inventory/sales ratio fell to 1.24 from 

1.25 in October, the lowest since November 2014 (1.23). Inventories 

year-over-year is up 4.0%, but sales have boomed in the past year, with 

a rise of 9.8% from November 2016. The ratio was below the 1.31 mark in 

November 2016, pointing to sales rising quicker than inventories in the 

past year. 

     Excluding the auto category, wholesale inventories would have been 

up 0.8% in November after a 0.3% decline in October, an MNI calculation 

showed. Wholesale sales excluding autos would have been up 1.5% in 

November, following a 0.6% increase in October, with the year-over-year 

rate of 9.2%.

     The value of durable inventories rose by 0.5% in the month, 

with auto inventories rising 0.7%. The remaining durables components 

were mixed, with gains in lumber, metals, electrical, and machinery. 

The rest of the categories saw smaller declines, with miscellaneus 

durables posting the only relatively large 0.9% decline.

     Nondurables inventories were up 1.3% in November. The biggest 

increases were seen in drugs (+1.9%), farm products (+4.3%), and 

petroleum (+4.9%). The remaining categores were mixed, with paper and 

miscellaneous nondurables also seeing gains and the rest seeing losses. 

Chemicals were flat in the month. 

     Durables goods sales were up 1.6% in the month, with auto 

sales up 1.2%. The remaining components saw gains with the exception of 

metals, and miscellaneous durables.

     Nondurable goods sales were up 1.4% in November after a 0.2% gain 

in October. Petroleum sales saw a strong 6.4% gain, this follows a 5.6% 

decrease in October, up 30.3% year-over-year. 

     ** MNI Washington Bureau: 202-371-2121 **