U.S. business inventories fall in October as sales rise

Reuters

Published Dec 14, 2017 10:19AM ET

U.S. business inventories fall in October as sales rise

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. business inventories fell in October amid strong sales growth, suggesting that inventory investment will probably not provide a large boost to economic growth in the fourth quarter.

The Commerce Department said on Thursday that business inventories slipped 0.1 percent after being unchanged in September.

Inventories are a key component of gross domestic product.

Retail inventories excluding autos, which go into the calculation of GDP, increased 0.4 percent as reported last month. They dipped 0.1 percent in September.