Business Inventories increased by 0.5% in February to $1,457.9 billion, lower than the consensus estimate of a 0.8% increase. Business inventories had increased by 0.9% in January, and currently stand 9.1% more than February 2010 levels. The inventories/sales ratio was 1.24 at the end of February, compared to 1.26 recorded a year ago.
Crude inventories increased by 1.6 million barrels, for the week ending April 8, from the previous week to 359.3 million barrels and were above the upper limit of the average range for that time of year. U.S. crude oil refinery inputs averaged nearly 14.0 million barrels per day during this period, 354 thousand barrels per day below the previous week’s average. U.S. crude oil imports were averaging 8.6 million barrels per day, down by 379 thousand barrels per day from the previous week.
Upcoming Releases
Initial Claims (04/14 at 8:30 AM EST)
PPI (04/14 at 8.30 AM EST)
CPI (04/15 at 8:30 AM EST)
Net Foreign Purchases (04/15 at 9:00 AM EST)
