September Wholesale Inventories Fall -0.1% MoM while Sales fall -1.5% MoM

September wholesale inventories unexpectedly fell -0.1% MoM (consensus +0.3%), while sales fell an even larger -1.5% MoM, in line with the decline in August. Over the past year, sales have risen +9.1% YoY, while inventories have risen +9.7% YoY. Excluding petroleum inventories, which have gone down in value along with the price of oil, inventories rose +0.1% MoM in September (+9% YoY).

Durable goods inventories rose +0.8% MoM (+10.2% YoY), while lower oil prices helped non-durable good inventories to fall by -1.4% MoM (+8.8% YoY). Durable goods sales fell -1% MoM (+3.5% YoY) and non-durable goods sales fell -1.9% MoM (+14% YoY). Auto inventories eased by -0.3% MoM while sales rose +0.4% MoM in September. Sales of petroleum fell -3.6% MoM (+35% YoY) while grocery sales rose +0.7% MoM and drug sales rose +0.4% MoM. Sales of Machinery fell -1.6% MoM.

The inventory-to-sales ratio continues to inch higher, rising to 1.12 from 1.10 the prior month, and 1.06 in June. The ratio rose for all categories except for non-durable goods (petroleum).