(RTTNews) - Friday morning, the Commerce Department released its report on wholesale inventories in the month of September, showing that inventories fell by a little less than economists had been anticipating. The report also showed a continued increase in wholesale sales.

The report showed that wholesale inventories fell 0.9 percent in September following a 1.3 percent decrease in August. Economists had been expecting inventories to decrease by about 1.0 percent.

With the monthly decrease, wholesale inventories were down 15.0 percent compared to the same month a year ago.

The continued decrease in wholesale inventories came as inventories of both durable goods and non-durable goods fell by 0.9 percent in September.

At the same time, the report showed that wholesale sales increased by 0.7 percent in September after rising by 1.1 percent in August. Sales of durable goods rose by 0.7 percent, while sales of non-durable goods increased by 0.6 percent.

Despite the monthly increase, wholesale sales were still down 15.2 percent compared to September of last year.

With inventories falling and sales rising, the wholesale inventories/sales ratio edged down to 1.18 in September from 1.20 in August. The ratio is flat compared to the same month a year ago.

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