U.S. Business Inventories Inch Up In Line With Estimates In April

(RTTNews) - Business inventories in the U.S. saw a modest rebound in the month of April, the Commerce Department revealed in a report released on Thursday.

The report said business inventories rose by 0.2 percent in April after slipping by a downwardly revised 0.2 percent in March.

Economists had expected business inventories to edge up by 0.2 percent compared to the 0.1 percent dip originally reported for the previous month.

"Business inventories rose in April, while revisions to prior months' data reflect significantly smaller declines in inventory levels," said Matthew Martin, U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics.

"However, mounting headwinds from slowing wage gains and falling excess savings will slow appetites in the second half of the year," he added. "As such, we continue to foresee a downturn in stocks over the balance of the year and for inventories to pose a drag on GDP growth in 2023."

The modest rebound in business inventories came as manufacturing inventories climbed by 0.5 percent in April after falling by 0.8 percent in March.

Retail inventories also inched up by 0.1 percent in April after rising by 0.4 percent in March, while wholesale inventories edged down by 0.1 percent in April after slipping by 0.2 percent in March.

The report also showed business sales crept up by 0.1 percent in April after tumbling by 1.5 percent in the previous month.

Wholesale sales rose by 0.2 percent in April after plunging by 2.7 percent in March, while retail sales rose by 0.4 percent in April after slumping by 1.1 percent in March.

On the other hand, manufacturing sales slid by 0.4 percent in April after falling by 0.6 percent in the previous month.

With inventories and sales both showing modest moves, the business inventories/sales ratio was unchanged from the previous month at 1.40.