Wholesale inventories down 0.1%

Wholesale inventories held by distributors fell 0.1% in September as companies reacted to the economic slowdown, according to data from the Department of Commerce. The August reading was revised, indicating inventories were down 0.6%, not 0.8%, as originally estimated. Despite the decline, wholesale inventories increased 9.7% from the year-earlier period. Analysts expected the index to be unchanged. Wholesale sales declined 1.5% in September after dropping 1.6% in August. Sales of nondurable goods fell 1.9% in September, though they increased 2.2% in August. The decrease was attributed to a 7.8% drop in the sales of farm-product raw materials and a 4.6% decrease in chemical sales. Durable-goods sales fell 1% last month, after falling 2% in August. Durable-goods inventories increased 0.8% and were up 10.2% from a year earlier.