- June 15, 2021
- Posted by: Stratford Team
- Category: Business
FILE PHOTO: Warehouse workers deal with inventory stacked up to the ceiling at an ABT Electronics Facility in Glenview, Illinois, U.S. December 4, 2018. Picture taken December 4, 2018. REUTERS/Richa Naidu
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. business inventories fell in April, with stocks declining at a sharper pace than initially estimated amid shortages of raw materials, which are undercutting production of motor vehicles and other goods.
Business inventories decreased 0.2% after increasing 0.2% in March, the Commerce Department said on Tuesday. Inventories are a key component of gross domestic product. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast inventories dipping 0.1%.
Inventories dropped 3.6% on a year-on-year basis in April.
Retail inventories decreased 1.8% in April, rather than 1.6% as estimated in an advance report published last month. That followed a 1.4% decrease in March. Motor vehicle inventories dropped 7.5% rather than 7.0% as estimated in an…
