Posted on 08/07/2003 7:10:35 AM PDT by Starwind
U.S. June wholesale inventories unchanged
Thursday August 7, 10:03 am ET
WASHINGTON, Aug 7 (Reuters) - U.S Commerce Department report of wholesale inventories and sales, seasonally adjusted. (Percent Changes) June May (Prev) June03/02 Inventories Total unch -0.4 -0.3 1.8 Durable Goods unch -0.5 -0.3 1.7 Automotive 1.9 -0.8 -0.8 9.2 Prof'l equip 0.1 1.5 1.5 0.1 Computer equip. 0.1 2.6 2.5 -5.5 Machinery -0.6 -0.4 -0.3 -2.4 Nondurable Goods 0.1 -0.3 -0.1 1.9 Petroleum 1.9 3.6 3.7 1.0 . June May (Prev) June03/02 Sales Total 1.5 -0.2 -0.5 3.9 Durable Goods 1.1 -0.1 -0.4 0.6 Automotive 2.2 0.2 -0.1 3.8 Prof'l equip 0.1 -1.8 -1.7 -1.9 Computer equip. 0.2 -3.6 -3.5 -7.7 Machinery 1.4 1.4 1.1 1.4 Nondurable Goods 1.8 -0.4 -0.7 7.1 Petroleum 7.3 -1.8 -3.7 20.1 (Billions of dlrs) June May (Prev) June'02 Inventories Total 289.05 288.96 289.34 283.92 Durable Goods 174.10 174.17 174.40 171.12 Automotive 25.82 25.34 25.33 23.64 Nondurables 114.95 114.79 114.94 112.80 (Billions of dlrs) June May (Prev) June'02 Sales Total 237.52 234.05 233.43 228.58 Durable Goods 113.04 111.79 111.53 112.31 Automotive 18.27 17.88 17.82 17.59 Nondurables 124.49 122.26 121.90 116.26 Stock-to_sales ratio June May (Prev) June'02 . 1.22 1.23 1.24 1.24 FORECAST: Reuters survey of U.S. economists forecast: U.S. June wholesale inventories unchanged HISTORICAL COMPARISONS/NOTES: US JUNE WHOLESALE SALES RISE LARGEST SINCE APR'02 (+1.6 PCT) US JUNE APPAREL STOCK/SALES RATIO 1.81 MONTHS, HIGHEST SINCE SEPT'01 (1.84) The stock-to-sales ratio is a measure of how long it would take to deplete inventories at the current sales pace.
10:09 ET Economic Review - wholesale inventories : June wholesale inventories were unchanged as the large 1.5% jump in sales stripped warehouse supply. The combination left a 1.22 month inventory to sales ratio -- just above the 1.21 record low of March. Low inventory supply will provide a boost to production as inventory rebuilding will strengthen under a stronger growth economy to provide a welcome tailwind.
I'm sure it will...much of it China and Mexico's production.
Hey, whatever makes more profits and cheaper goods for Americans is fine with me. If someone's worried about it costing them their job, maybe they should work for less and quit crying to the federal government.
And maybe you should take a running jump...
So, if your focus is cost & profit, why do you think boosting China or Mexico's production to replenish US inventories is good? The profits are theirs and the 'goods' are only as cheap as the cheapest American producer (note for example that Maytag moves 3 appliance manufacturing operations to Mexico, but did not argue consumers will get a price break).
Prices are set as high as the market will bear - the cost savings in China and Mexico is not passed onto american consumers, but is retained by the Chinese/Mexican manufactures, the importers, retailers, and/or the American parents of same.
Just setting the jobs issue aside, why is boosting foreign production good?
Amen, bro. This constant whining is getting old. You create your own job and you make your own value, no matter who you work for. Every day, YOU are responsible for your job.Except that there are so many government regulations here, and so many high fees, high taxes and mandates on employers that it's getting very difficult to make your own job.
That's a big part of the job loss problem. We've made the USA such a business hostile climate that nobody wants to build factories (or labs or engineering facilities) here anymore. It's not the wages for American workers that are killing American jobs, it's the endless regulations and high taxes. Also, the fact that the long term trend for interest rates is upward to high levels (private business has to compete with government borrowing, which shows no signs that it will ever decrease now), and the long term trend for taxes is upward too (to fund prescriptions for Medicar, Medicare and Social Security for Baby Boomers, and an ever expanding welfare state promoted by Socialist 'Republicans' in an attempt to beat the opposition by becoming the opposition).
The other half of the picture is that it's not illegal to buy products made by dumping tons of sulfur compounds into the air and tons of industrial waste into rivers. It's not illegal to buy products made by 12 year old children working 14 hour days, 7 days a week, for pennies a day either. You can buy those products at your local Walmart any day, and they are extremely cheap, too.
It is illegal to hire American 12 year olds for that price and work them that way. It's illegal to spew that pollution into America's skys and rivers.
There is something seriously wrong with this situation, too.
..and who is going to make up the shortfall in taxes to pay out the welfare benefits when more jobs leave?
The 90% income tax for "people who make their own jobs" is coming unless the trend is reversed. Maybe the constant whining isn't without merit. Where there is value, there is a tax man. Until the system is corrected, that is what people must live under.
Yeah... God forbid someone take personal responsibility for having a job or not.
So you argue for even more of them? That's crazy.
I wasn't criticizing you for that; I was criticizing you for your cavalier statement that "maybe people should work for less." Can you live on $6000 a year?
I could. I don't want to though. That's why I have a job. If I didn't have a job, I would get one. Please let me know the day you hear me asking the federal government to take money from every other American to insure that I have a job.
There is no question that our system needs a major overhaul---but I think Bush and the GOP have made a good start. The things that got cut from the budget and tax bills would be beneficial, and there are something we could get if we have a larger majority in the Senate.
When the Chinese yuan is eventually floated (as it must), the dollar will collapse along with Wallymart.
BUMP
No, I argue that we should:Except that there are so many government regulations here, and so many high fees, high taxes and mandates on employers that it's getting very difficult to make your own job.So you argue for even more of them? That's crazy.
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