Inventories Dip 1% in July

The Commerce Department says business inventories fell another month by 1%, though sales gained in July.

Author:: David Moss
Publish date:: Sep 15, 2009 11:48 AM EDT

WASHINGTON (

) -- July marked yet another inventory decline for businesses, though it was less steep than the month before, according to a government report this morning.

The Commerce Department said businesses shaved their inventories by 1% in July to $1.33 trillion, still less than the revised 1.4% decline the month prior. According to estimates from Thomson Reuters, most expected a 0.9% drop during the month.

Retail supply was cut by 1%, while inventories for manufacturers and wholesalers fell by 0.7% and 1.4%, respectively.

But a continued uptick in sales may bode well for the future. The report said sales climbed another 0.1% during July on the heels of a 1.1% jump in June, the metric's first back-to-back monthly gain of the year.

Still, sales are down by 17.8% since a year-ago in July, while inventories are lower by 11.8%.

Earlier, the Commerce Department said

retail sales grew by a better-than-expected 2.7% in August, while the Labor Department said

wholesale prices surged by 1.7%.

Shares for some retailers and manufacturers were mixed in the morning.

Wal-Mart

(WMT) - Get Report

and

Kohl's

(KSS) - Get Report

were moving lower by 0.5% and 1.2% each.

Target