Business Inventories Rise Much Less Than Expected

ByJohn S. McClenahen Reflecting continued economic caution, U.S. business inventories rose just 0.1% in September, far below the 0.5% that analysts generally expected. Seasonally adjusted, inventories were at $1.258 trillion at the end of September, the U.S. Commerce Department reported on Nov. 12. Business inventories are the combined inventory totals for manufacturers, retailers and merchant wholesalers. For manufacturing alone, inventories were $463.3 billion at the end of September, 0.3% higher than at the end of August, but well below the 0.7% increase from the end of July to the end of August.