The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that the combined value of distributive trade sales and manufacturers' shipments for July, adjusted for seasonal and trading-day differences but not for price changes, was estimated at $1,303.6 billion, down 0.2 percent (±0.1%) from June 2016 and was down 0.8 percent (±0.4%) from July 2015.

Inventories. Manufacturers' and trade inventories, adjusted for seasonal variations but not for price changes, were estimated at an end-of-month level of $1,813.2 billion, virtually unchanged (±0.1%)* from June 2016, but were up 0.5 percent (±0.6%)* from July 2015.

Inventories/Sales Ratio. The total business inventories/sales ratio based on seasonally adjusted data at the end of July was 1.39. The July 2015 ratio was 1.37.