(raw materials / closing price /% change)

Oil 45.75-0.13%

Gold 1,228.40+0.32%

Sales: The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that the combined value of distributive trade sales and manufacturers' shipments for September, adjusted for seasonal and trading-day differences but not for price changes, was estimated at $1,314.6 billion, up 0.7 percent (±0.2%) from August 2016 and was up 0.8 percent (±0.4%) from September 2015.

Inventories: Manufacturers' and trade inventories, adjusted for seasonal variations but not for price changes, were estimated at an end-of-month level of $1,818.7 billion, up 0.1 percent (±0.1%)* from August 2016 and were up 0.6 percent (±0.6%)* from September 2015.

Inventories/Sales Ratio: The total business inventories/sales ratio based on seasonally adjusted data at the end of September was 1.38. The September 2015 ratio was 1.39.