Sales. The U.S. Census Bureau announced that the combined value of distributive trade sales and manufacturers' shipments for January, adjusted for seasonal and trading-day differences but not for price changes, was estimated at $1,163.5 billion, up 1.5 percent (±0.3%) from December 2007 and up 8.6 percent (±0.3%) from January 2007.
Inventories. Manufacturers' and trade inventories, adjusted for seasonal variations but not for price changes, were estimated at an end-of-month level of $1,457.9 billion, up 0.8 percent (±0.1%) from December 2007 and up 4.8 percent (±0.4%) from January 2007.
Inventories/Sales Ratio. The total business inventories/sales ratio based on seasonally adjusted data at the end of January was 1.25. The January 2007 ratio was 1.30.