Sales. The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that the combined value of distributive trade sales and manufacturers’ shipments for November, adjusted for seasonal and trading-day differences but not for price changes, was estimated at $1,313.5 billion, down 0.2 percent (±0.2%)* from October 2015 and was down 2.8 percent (±0.5%) from November 2014.

Inventories. Manufacturers’ and trade inventories, adjusted for seasonal variations but not for price changes, were estimated at an end-of-month level of $1,809.8 billion, down 0.2 percent (±0.1%) from October 2015, but were up 1.6 percent (±0.5%) from November 2014.
Inventories/Sales Ratio. The total business inventories/sales ratio based on seasonally adjusted data at the end of November was 1.38. The November 2014 ratio was 1.32.